TNF and acute respiratory distress syndrome: In the pilot study by Meduri et al. from 1995 [93], prolonged treatment with methylprednisolone (initial bolus of 200 mg i.v., then every 6 h at a dosage of 2–3 mg/kg/day until extubation, after extubation oral methylprednisolone or prednisone slowly tapered, total duration of treatment 6 weeks) in 9 patients with late ARDS decreased TNFα and IL-6 in the plasma of both rapid and delayed responders by day 7, while IL-1β decreased by day 5 in rapid responders and by day 10 in delayed responders.