Possible role of histamine in pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases: implications for immunotherapy with histamine-2 receptor antagonists.

The immunosuppressive chemical drugs cyclosporine A (CsA) and methotrexate (Mx) have recently been shown to be of benefit in several different diseases of autoimmune origin. Cellular immune responses may play a major role in autoimmunity as autoreactive T lymphocytes appear to recognize autoantigens and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II restriction molecules presented by non-immune, aberrant cells, subsequently leading to damage on healthy tissues. Psoriasis is suggested to be an autoimmune disease and in severe, uncontrollable psoriasis CsA and Mx are of value in reducing disease activity. Histamine is suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis of psoriasis and the histamine-2 receptor antagonist ranitidine has been shown to be of value to reduce severe psoriatic disease. The finding that CsA and Mx efficiently reduce histamine formation and release raises the possibility, that histamine is one of the molecules involved in pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. T cell mediated regulation and suppression of autoreactive T cells seem to be ineffective in controlling the enhanced immune reaction in patients where the discrimination between self and non-self is changed. A consequence of this may be induction of interferon-gamma (IFN-g) production and release by cytotoxic T cells, subsequently leading to expression of MHC II molecules on non-immune tissues. As immunotherapy may be of value in some autoimmune diseases the use of histamine-2 receptor antagonists should be evaluated in patients where conventional therapy is ineffective to reduce disease activity.