Astemizole and other H1-antihistaminic drug treatment of asthma.

The disparity between the activation of mast cells in the airways of patients with allergic asthma and the lack of efficacy of H1-antihistamines in asthma therapy has been difficult to reconcile. Histamine causes bronchoconstriction when inhaled by subjects with asthma and is released in detectable amounts into the circulation after bronchial provocation with an antigen. However, it is only weakly antagonized at bronchial H1-receptors by conventional antihistamines such as chlorpheniramine and clemastine, achieving dose ratios of 2 to 4 at maximally tolerated doses. Astemizole and terfenadine are two new H1-histamine antagonists with greatly increased potency and no sedative and anticholinergic side effects. Astemizole has a delayed onset of maximal activity but induces prolonged H1-blockade that extends 15 to 30 days after the end of treatment, whereas terfenadine has a rapid onset of action with a much shorter duration of effect. With therapeutic doses (10 mg/day), astemizole is at least four times more potent in antagonizing histamine-induced bronchoconstriction than the previously available H1-antihistamines and also effectively antagonizes antigen-induced bronchoconstriction in asthma. Astemizole has been shown to be highly effective in the symptomatic treatment of seasonal allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, with the exception of nasal obstruction. With continued treatment, astemizole also offers useful protection from the symptoms of seasonal asthma. Thus the role of histamine in the pathogenesis of asthma should be reappraised. Potent H1-histamine antagonists such as astemizole and terfenadine may offer some benefit in asthma therapy, but the precise clinical indications for their use will require critical evaluation.