Histamine: Role in pathogenesis of autoimmune, allergic, inflammatory and malignant diseases

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed importance of histamine in immunopathophysiological implications in several diseases. Moreover, its role in development of disease pathology is still being elucidated. Accumulating evidences have highlighted that histamine has the possible role in pathology of autoimmunity by modulating the cytokine network and influence T-lymphocytes (Th1 and Th2) balance, and antibody isotype switching. Hence, there is a real need to search for newer role of histamine in disease development. In this review, we will highlight histamine role in pathology of autoimmunity and its mechanism, and also histamine role in pathogenesis of autoimmune, allergic, inflammatory and malignant diseases such as chronic urticaria (CU), atopic dermatitis (AD), autoimmune myocardium (AM) and multiple sclerosis (MS) & experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE); allergic rhinitis, anaphylaxis (acute) and asthma; atherosclerosis; and malignant melanoma, respectively. There are several steps in the autoimmune attack/allergic march where histamine might play an important role. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010.