In contrast to relatively spared baseline HPA axis activity, etomidate-induced inhibition of 11β-hydroxylase, which was greater in nonsepsis than in sepsis, was associated with a inhibition of the cortisol response to supraphysiologic doses of exogenous ACTH, regardless of underlying condition and cortisol-binding molecules that hardly affect ACTH-induced cortisol increases [11]. This evidence concerns the gene POMC and Sepsis.