Are drug metabolites able to cause T-cell-mediated hypersensitivity reactions?

Adverse drug reactions with an immune pathogenesis are a problem in the clinic and an impediment to drug development. T lymphocytes are believed to play a role in the pathogenesis; however, the nature of the drug interaction with immune receptors remains an area of debate.

This article reviews recent advances in our understanding of drug hypersensitivity focusing specifically on the way in which drugs are displayed in MHC molecules. Most drugs associated with a high incidence of reactions have been shown to form protein-reactive metabolites. Hence, the relationship between drug metabolism and T-cell activation is discussed in detail.

The role of metabolism in pathogenesis of immunological drug reactions has only been studied with a small number of drugs where synthetic metabolites are available for functional studies. In each case, metabolite-responsive T cells have been detected. However, the field is skewed by the fact that most research is conducted using the parent compound in metabolically inert cell systems. We propose that research efforts are directed towards the synthesis of drug metabolites and/or drug-protein conjugates. Furthermore, analytical methods need to be developed to relate metabolite exposure to the T-cell response. For now, our understanding of the chemical basis of drug hypersensitivity is incomplete.