Objective To examine whether or not peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMCs） from steroid-resistant （SR） asthmatics express different profiles of cytokines from their steroid-sensitive （SS） counterparts, particularly after treatment with steroid. Method In situ hybridization was used to detect the mRNA from PBMCs.Results PBMCs from SR patients did not differ significantly from those of SS in the expression of interleukin （IL-4） mRNA or IL-5 mRNA （P＞0.05）. There was no difference in the number of PBMCs expressing IL-4 mRNA and IL-5 mRNA （P＞0.05） between incubation in the absence or presence of dexamethasone （DXM, 10-7mol/L） in SR. SS patients had a significant decrease in the number of PBMCs expressing IL-4 mRNA and IL-5 mRNA （P＜0.01） after culturing in the presence of DXM when compared with incubation in media alone. Conclusion Our findings indicate that SR asthma is associated with a dysregulation of the expression of the genes encoding for IL-4 and IL-5.