Kinins as mediators of human allergic reactions

We have demonstrated that kinins are generated following nasal challenge with allergen of allergic (5.6 +/- 0.17 ng/m-), but not nonallergic (0.04 +/- .02 ng/ml), individuals (n = 8 in each case). The presence of kinin was highly correlated with that of histamine and TAME-esterase activity and with clinical symptoms (p less than 0.001). In a double blind, placebo-controlled study, topical administration of the drug Azatadine, which inhibits mast cell mediator release in vitro, reduced the clinical response to allergen challenge and reduced the concentrations of kinins, histamine, and TAME-esterase activity observed following allergen challenge. In addition to the immediate response to allergen, some individuals experience a recurrence of symptoms some 3-12 hours after challenge; in seven such individuals (13.5 +/- 3.2 ng kinin/ml in the immediate reaction), there was a second increase in nasal kinins (2.95 +/- 1.4 ng/ml) during this late reaction, again correlating with increases in histamine and TAME-esterase activity. HPLC analysis revealed that a mixture of bradykinin and lysylbradykinin is produced during both responses. Finally, 12 subjects with a history of nasal symptoms upon exposure to cold, dry air (CDA) were compared to five asymptomatic individuals in a nasal challenge system involving nasal breathing of CDA and warm, moist air (WMA). For the symptomatic group the levels of kinin in nasal lavages were significantly increased after CDA (2.9 +/- 0.8 ng/ml) compared to baseline (0.06 +/- 0.01 ng/ml) or WMA (0.3 +/- 0.07 ng/ml). Kinin generation again correlated with increases in histamine, PGD2 and TAME-esterase activity and with onset of symptoms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)