Effect of antibiotics on immediate hypersensitivity reactions in vitro: suppression of IgE-mediated histamine release from peripheral blood basophils by fosfomycin.

The effect of antibiotics on allergic reactions was studied in vitro using the release of histamine from human peripheral blood leukocytes (basophils) after incubation with anti-IgE. For the several antibiotics we tested, including beta-lactams and aminoglycosides, none had the capacity to enhance antigen-induced histamine release, but some of them (minocycline, polymyxin B, and fosfomycin) suppressed the release of histamine in a dose-dependent manner. Since fosfomycin has proved to be capable of suppressing IgE-mediated histamine release non-cytotoxically, the effect of fosfomycin on histamine release induced by other secretagogues was further studied. The suppression of histamine release was also demonstrated when the leukocytes, preincubated with fosfomycin, were challenged with either Ca ionophore A 23187 or a synthetic peptide, formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). We concluded that some antibiotics, particularly fosfomycin, have the capacity to suppress histamine release mediated by various secretagogues, suggesting they may possess an anti-allergic property as well as a bactericidal activity.