TNF and asthma: However, concentration-dependent inhibition curve of dexamethasone on TNFα-induced IL-8 shifted to the right in severe asthma compared with those of healthy volunteers and non-severe asthma patients, resulting in higher 50% inhibitory-concentration of dexamethasone (IC50dex) for severe asthmatics (median (range): 35.4 (19.8;48.4), n = 14; p<0.05) as compared to non-severe asthmatics (12.2 (9.2;34.3) nM, n = 14) and healthy volunteers (13.4 (8.4;20.3) nM, n = 8) (Figures 1A and 1B).