Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0042109 (urticaria)
 6,569 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Various cells are associated with inflammatory events characteristic of atopic allergy and asthma. As well as T cells and eosinophils, mast cells, basophils, mononuclear phagocytes and platelets have all to be considered particularly as their mediators have potential for contributing directly to the features of bronchial asthma. Nevertheless, mast cell/T lymphocyte/eosinophil interactions may be of particular significance. For instance, the acute symptoms of allergy and asthma such as sneezing, bronchospasm and hives are believed to be largely the result of mediator release from mast cells whereas chronic symptoms (the result of allergic inflammation) can be explained on the basis of eosinophil-mediated tissue damage. Allergen is recognized directly by T cells. Specialized T cell subsets, possibly the Th2 equivalent, predominate in allergy and elaborate IL-4 (an essential co-factor for IgE production) and IL-5 which brings about terminal differentiation and activation of the eosinophil. Basic proteins derived from the crystalloid granule together with PAF and leukotrienes produce chronic wheeze, bronchial irritability, and might also be involved in permanent nasal blockage in chronic rhinitis. This general hypothesis is continually being tested. It is clearly important to identify precise molecular targets in allergy and asthma in order to construct therapeutic strategies.
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PMID:T lymphocytes and their products in atopic allergy and asthma. 193 73

The effects of oral administration of the antihistamine cetirizine on the weal and flare caused by intradermal injection of platelet activating factor (PAF-acether), kallikrein, histamine and the patient's own serum were investigated in 10 patients with chronic urticaria. Cetirizine markedly reduced the weal and flare induced by all these agents as measured 12 min after the injections. The delayed reactions observed after injection of PAF, kallikrein and serum were also inhibited by cetirizine at 6 hours. In addition, reactions which were present 20 h after injection of the agent before administration of cetirizine were found to be inhibited at the same point in time after cetirizine treatment. These effects might explain the good inhibitory clinical effect of cetirizine on the patients' urticaria. No side-effects were noted during the treatment.
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PMID:Effect of cetirizine on cutaneous reactions to PAF, kallikrein and serum in patients with chronic urticaria. 196 2

Ketotifen, a benzocycloheptathiophene, possesses asthma-prophylactic and antiallergic activities in a number of in vitro and in vivo systems: prevention of cutaneous and lung anaphylaxis in the rat and guinea pig; inhibition of dermal and bronchial antigen challenges in man; inhibition of mediator release from rat mast cells, human basophils, human neutrophils, and human and guinea pig chopped lung; reduction of human neutrophil activation induced by PAF-acether; functional antagonism of mediator effects in the guinea pig; blockade of H1-receptors and prevention and reversal of beta-adrenergic tachyphylaxis in the rat. These properties make ketotifen suitable for the long-term prophylaxis of bronchial asthma and for the prevention and treatment of other allergic disorders, such as allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis, food allergy, and urticaria. Oral ketotifen (1 mg twice daily) is particularly convenient in the management of the multiple allergies often encountered in patients with atopy.
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PMID:Immunologic and therapeutic aspects of ketotifen. 401 61

In order to clarify the pathogenetic role of basophils and mast cells in chronic urticaria, histamine and leukotriene (LT)C4 release was examined in washed mixed leukocytes (n = 8) and skin mast cells (n = 5) from patients with chronic urticaria and compared with the same cells from normal controls (n = 9). Anti-IgE-stimulated basophil histamine release was significantly reduced in urticaria patients (median 2.9% vs 15.1% in normal controls), whereas histamine release to A23187, FMLP, and PAF, as well as anti-IgE-induced LTC4 release, showed no differences in both groups. In contrast, anti-IgE-stimulated skin mast cells from urticaria patients reacted similarly to those of controls (median histamine release 11.4% vs 14.2% in normal controls). Pretreatment of the cells with interleukin (IL)-3 upregulated responsiveness of basophil histamine release to anti-IgE in urticaria patients (median histamine release 14.3%), but pretreatment with the H2-antagonist cimetidine showed no effect. These data show that reduced basophil histamine releasability in chronic urticaria is not H2 mediated. It is a stimulus-, mediator-, and cell type-restricted phenomenon that can, at least partially, be reversed in the presence of the cytokine IL-3.
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PMID:Histamine releasability of basophils and skin mast cells in chronic urticaria. 872 24

Allergic diseases include a variety of different illnesses (rhinitis, conjunctivitis, asthma, urticaria, dermatitis) whose physiological and pathological basis is the release of chemical mediators such as histamine, PAF (platelet activating factor), metabolites of arachidonic acid and chemotactic factors from mastocytes, basophils and eosinophils. The numerous drugs used for allergy treatment now include the new pharmacological category of cysteinyl leukotriene antagonists. The cysteinyl leukotrienes (LTC4, LTD4 and LTE4) are chemical mediators of the inflammation involved in the pathogenesis of asthma, the biological effects of which are bronchial constriction and an increase in both mucus secretion and vascular permeability. Recent studies carried out above all on adult patients suggest that antileukotrienes can play an important part not only in the acute phase but also in controlling the chronic development of bronchial asthma. Antileukotrienes have also been successfully used by some authors to control atopic dermatitis and urticaria. Though further controlled testing will be required, these applications broaden the possible range of treatments for allergic disease in all its many aspects.
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PMID:The use of antileukotrienes in paediatrics. 1186 19

Histamine is the primary mediator involved the pathophysiology of allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria, and this explains the prominent role that histamine H(1)-receptor antagonists have in the treatment of these disorders. However, histamine is clearly not the only mediator involved in the inflammatory cascade. There is an emerging view that drugs which can inhibit a broader range of inflammatory processes may prove to be more effective in providing symptomatic relief in both allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria. This is an important consideration of the Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) initiative which provides a scientific basis for defining what are the desirable properties of an 'ideal' antihistamine. In this review of rupatadine, a newer dual inhibitor of histamine H(1)- and PAF-receptors, we evaluate the evidence for a mechanism of action which includes anti-inflammatory effects in addition to a powerful inhibition of H(1)- and PAF-receptors. We assess this in relation to the clinical efficacy (particularly the speed of onset of action) and safety of rupatadine, and importantly its longer term utility in everyday life. In clinical trials, rupatadine has been shown to be an effective and well-tolerated treatment for allergic rhinitis and chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). It has a fast onset of action, producing rapid symptomatic relief, and it also has an extended duration of clinical activity which allows once-daily administration. In comparative clinical trials rupatadine was shown to be at least as effective as drugs such as loratadine, cetirizine, desloratadine and ebastine in reducing allergic symptoms in adult/adolescent patients with seasonal, perennial or persistent allergic rhinitis. Importantly, rupatadine demonstrated no adverse cardiovascular effects in preclinical or extensive clinical testing, nor negative significant effects on cognition or psychomotor performance (including a practical driving study). It improved the overall well-being of patients with allergic rhinitis or CIU based on findings from quality of life questionnaires and patient global rating scores in clinical trials. Thus, rupatadine is a recently introduced dual inhibitor of histamine H(1)- and PAF-receptors, which has been shown to be an effective and generally well-tolerated treatment for allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria. It possesses a broader profile of anti-inflammatory properties inhibiting both inflammatory cells and a range of mediators involved in the early- and late-phase inflammatory response, but the clinical relevance of these effects remain to be clarified.
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PMID:Rupatadine in allergic rhinitis and chronic urticaria. 1833 40