Reflections about allergic and crossed reactions to sulphonamides and drugs with radical-sulphonamide
Montes Montes, Jé.; Alfonso Barrón, E.; Cruz Leyva, Jín.del.Alva.; Flores Flores, Jé.
Revista Alergia Mexico 51(2): 66-72
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-5151 PMID: 15237912 Document Number: 582876
In the daily pharmacological therapy, some compounds may cause eventually allergic hypersensitivity reactions generating adverse effects. The objective of this study and its reflections has been to recommend caution, being prudent when expressing an opinion on risks and benefits of drugs themselves or some of their radicals that may contain because this attitude might produce a unsuitable concern. Drugs hypersensitivity (an unexpected pharmacological effect) may resemble a true allergic reaction but without the implication of IgE immunoglobulin. Such reactions are result of effector systems drug activation, leading to direct proallergic or proinflammatory chemical mediators release from mast cells, basophils and eosinophils. Sulphonamides are an illustrative example because they possess a chemical core resembling that from other kind of drugs -furosemide, some COXIB and others- besides its haptenic capability (even though they have different chemical structure). Selective COX 2 inhibitors are considered an accepted symptomatic therapy in rheumatic diseases as well as some other conditions where pain and inflammation are present; based on its generalized use in such conditions, authors decided to perform this investigation in the allergy clinics of Hospital General de México and Hospital Español de México, looking for cases of true allergic, crossed or hypersensitivity reactions related to one COXIB that includes a sulphamidic radical in its chemical structure. No clinical significance was found concerning the above mentioned reactions and the antiinflammatory-analgesic compound (celecoxib).