Immunologic mechanisms of cutaneous drug reactions
- 1 December 1996
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Frontline Medical Communications, Inc. in Seminars in Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery
- Vol. 15 (4), 228-235
- https://doi.org/10.1016/s1085-5629(96)80035-6
Abstract
Idiosyncratic reactions (type B) are a major complication of drug therapy, because they are related to both the drug and to individual factors in the host. In comparison with other organs, the skin is quite frequently a target of allergic reactions, which are mainly elicited by small molecular weight compounds. This is the case in allergic contact dermatitis as well as in drug allergic reactions. In contrast to allergic contact dermatitis however, drug-induced hypersensitivity reactions of the skin have enormous variability with regard to their pathophysiological pathways, clinical signs of symptoms, severity, and the drugs which can elicit these reactions. Allergic reactions are mediated either by specific antibodies or a cellular immunocompetent immune response. About 25% to 30% of type B reactions are estimated to be allergic drug reactions, which are classified by the latency period between the ingestion of the responsible allergen and the onset of clinical symptoms. Studying the mechanisms of these hypersensitivity reactions improves our understanding of these diseases in general, and shows the importance of the skin as a signaling organ in these reactions.Keywords
This publication has 33 references indexed in Scilit:
- CD8+ dermal T cells from a sulphamethoxazole-induced bullous exanthem proliferate in response to drug-modified liver microsomesBritish Journal of Dermatology, 2006
- The role of cytochrome P450 enzymes in hepatic and extrahepatic human drug toxicityPharmacology & Therapeutics, 1995
- Medication Use and the Risk of Stevens–Johnson Syndrome or Toxic Epidermal NecrolysisThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1995
- Severe Adverse Cutaneous Reactions to DrugsThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1994
- Sulfonamide-reactive lymphocytes detected at very low frequency in the peripheral blood of patients with drug-induced eruptionsJournal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 1994
- Allergische Arzneimittelreaktionen der Haut*Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift (1946), 1991
- Lichenoid dermatoses and related disorders. I. Lichen planus and Lichenoid drug-induced eruptionsJournal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 1990
- Drug-Related LupusThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1988
- Association of Antibody to Histone Complex H2A–H2B with Symptomatic Procainamide-Induced LupusThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1988
- Tryptase Levels as an Indicator of Mast-Cell Activation in Systemic Anaphylaxis and MastocytosisThe New England Journal of Medicine, 1987