Higham A, et al. - Researchers evaluated the anti-inflammatory impacts of the corticosteroid budesonide and a p38 MAPK inhibitor (AZD7624) on different cell types obtained from COPD patients and healthy controls. Within the same individual, variable corticosteroid and p38 MAPK inhibitor anti-inflammatory responses were seen depending on the cell type studied. The lowest sensitivity to budesonide was shown by bronchial epithelial cells, while the greatest sensitivity was demonstrated by peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Compared with budesonide, a greater effect of AZD7624 was apparent on cytokine production from bronchial epithelial cells. In COPD patients, the use of multiple anti-inflammatory strategies was supported because of differences between cell types.