Investigation of the effect of ketotifen on alcohol-induced asthma: a case study

A male patient with bronchial asthma suffered severe exacerbation of symptoms after drinking alcohol and this was not prevented by treatment with bronchodilators. After taking 1 mg ketotifen twice daily for nasal obstruction, within 1 month there was no longer any exacerbation of symptoms by alcohol. Blood samples were taken and peripheral eosinophils were purified and incubated with beer antigen. Using a chemiluminescence method, it was shown that pretreatment with ketotifen dose dependently inhibited the generation of the highly reactive oxygen metabolite superoxide (O2-) by the eosinophils. It is proposed that ketotifen prevented the alcohol-exacerbated asthma attacks by inhibiting the release of tissue-damaging superoxide from eosinophils.