Topical levamisole hydrochloride therapy attenuates experimental murine allergic rhinitis

Allergic rhinitis is one of the most common chronic diseases. There are a number of effective therapeutic options for allergic rhinitis patients, such as intranasal corticosteroids. How to avoid the adverse effects of these traditional medicines has come to public attention and started the search for effective and safe medicine. We used BALB/c mice with experimental allergic rhinitis, and determined that levamisole delivered locally (intranasal, i.n.) could attenuate early-phase inflammatory response, decrease histamine, suppress edema and eosinophil infiltration, and diminish the ovalbumin-specific serum IgE level. Detailed analysis of cytokine gene expression showed that levamisole can decrease IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13 mRNA and increase IL-12, IL-18 and IFN-gamma mRNA. Levamisole showed analogous effects of down-regulating Th2 cytokines with budesonide and distinct up-regulating effects on Th1 cytokines gene expression. Our findings offer potential options for allergic rhinitis therapy.