β-Lactam antibiotics: the most common allergens among drugs.
doi: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4692812/
Why are beta-lactam antibiotics the most common drug allergens?
I was thinking that it could be due to the fact that beta-lactam antibiotics as Penicillins & Cephalosporins, are used in relatively higher amounts (e.g. 500 - 1000mg)
Also, maybe the mode of administration should play a role: other drugs used in the same weight range are given only orally (Vs. antibiotics which are often given parenterally)??
And then this could be all on the chemical identity of these drugs...
Hi Mahmoud, not only antibiotics give allergy but also other medicines and allergens found in the environment. It depends on your immune system which is different in anyone of us. The immune system becomes hypersensitive when an external substance is introduced in the body. Everybody is different and we all have our own immune system. I don't think the mode of administration triggers a hypersensitive reaction. If you are hypersensitive to a substance you still have a reaction whatever the way a substance is administered.
Hello Mahmoud Gharieb
It will depend on the concentration-exposure relationships that can differ between individuals, due to acquired or genetic host factors. The type and intensity of interaction between the drug and target may relate to both the dose and duration of treatment.
Some off-target effects are both directly immune-mediated and associated with immunological memory of varied duration (drug hypersensitivity), whereas others without immunological memory might have an immunological phenotype, such as non-IgE-mediated mast-cell activation seen with the use of certain antibiotics like fluoroquinolones.
Best.
The most frequent antibiotic groups associated with adverse drug reactions are the beta -lactams, which include penicillin, cephalosporins, carbapenems, and monobactams. This review focuses on published studies that performed diagnostic tests using alternative -lactams and, if necessary, graded challenges to determine the cross-reactivity among -lactams in penicillin- or cephalosporin-allergic patients. In accordance with several studies, IgE-mediated allergies are uncommon in people and T-cell allergies are rare in people who have cross-reactivity with the beta-lactam ring, which results in positive responses to allergy tests with all beta -lactams. Cross-reactivity between these antibiotics is mostly caused by the identities or similarities of their beta-lactam side-chain structures.
Reference: Caruso C, Valluzzi RL, Colantuono S, Gaeta F, Romano A. β-Lactam Allergy and Cross-Reactivity: A Clinician's Guide to Selecting an Alternative Antibiotic. J Asthma Allergy. 2021 Jan 18;14:31-46. doi: 10.2147/JAA.S242061. PMID: 33500632; PMCID: PMC7822086.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Mathematics
- Statistics
- Applied Statistics
- Survey Design
- Questionnaire