The effect of H1 antagonists carebastine and olopatadine on histamine induced expression of CC chemokines in cultured human nasal epithelial cells.

Background: CC chemokines have been shown to play an important role in inducing selective recruitment of inflammatory cells into local allergic inflammatory sites. CC chemokines are also known as histamine releasing factors. We previously showed that histamine enhances transcription of CC chemokines from nasal mucosa which leads to further induction of histamine release. This cyclic cascade may cause prolonged allergic inflammation. The aim of this study is to clarify the relationship between histamine and CC chemokine production by using human nasal epithelial cells (HNECs) and to examine the potential of H1 receptor (H1R) antagonists in new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of nasal allergy.

Methods: HNECs were isolated from the nasal turbinates of patients diagnosed with nasal allergy. HNEC monolayers were cultured for 48 hours with or without histamine (10(-3) to 10(-5) mol/L). Furthermore, an H1R antagonist, either carebastine or olopatadine, was added to the supernatant (10(-3) to 10(-7) mol/L) 30 minutes before incubation with histamine. The expression of Regulated on Activation, Normal T-cell Expressed and Secreted (RANTES) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) in the culture media were measured by ELISA.

Results: The release of RANTES and MCP-1 was significantly upregulated by histamine compared with the control group. Both carebastine and olopatadine inhibited the release of CC chemokine production to the control level in both groups.

Conclusions: This study suggests that the interaction between histamine and CC chemokines may prolong allergic inflammation in human nasal mucosa. We also demonstrate the potential use of H1R antagonists in new therapeutic approaches to the treatment of nasal allergy through inhibiting this histamine-CC chemokine interaction.