I would guess being on Prednisone would render a cytokine panel unreliable if not completely useless. Even a cortisol level is hard to interpret when a person is on prednisone. I asked my endocrinologist if there would be a need to recheck my cortisol level again. He said cortisol levels are so variable they aren't that useful. I suspect Cytokine levels are the same. CRP and ESR are notoriously unreliable too,

Some cytokine panels seem to be affordable $-hundreds but others are $-thousands. I don't think I will be buying one.