[The effect of ketotifen on the inflammation of bronchial mucosa in atopic asthmatics].

It is clear that bronchial asthma is caused by chronic airway inflammation. However, no standard treatment has been developed since opinions regarding the use of anti-allergic agents vary from country to country. I studied the effect of ketotifen, a popular anti-allergic drug, on inflammatory cells in bronchial mucosa. I obtained bronchial mucosa specimens by bronchoscopy from eight atopic asthmatics of mild to moderate severity before and after ketotifen (2 mg/day) treatment and also obtained from 5 normal healthy adults for control study. I used monoclonal antibodies for immunohistochemical staining: anti-EG2 for eosinophils, anti-NP57 for neutrophils, anti-CD3, anti-CD4 and anti-CD8 for T lymphocytes, anti-CD25 and anti-HLA-DR for activated T lymphocytes. I also stained mast cells with toluidine blue. The number of eosinophils, neutrophils, T lymphocytes and activated T lymphocytes in the bronchial mucosa of the asthmatic patients were significantly decreased after treatment with ketotifen. These results suggest that ketotifen decreases the inflammatory cells in the airway, and improves allergic inflammation in bronchial asthma.