Rifampicin ameliorates inflammatory responses in asthma experimental animal model

Abstract

Drug repositioning is the application of known drugs and compounds to treat new diseases and is the process of identifying new uses for drugs outside the scope of their original medical indication. Our study previously revealed anti-atopic dermatitis activity of rifampicin, which is used for the treatment of tuberculosis. We herein investigated the effect of rifampicin on asthma. Asthma was induced in BALB/C mice and the mice were treated with rifampicin by oral administration. The inflammatory responses were alleviated in the rifampicin-treated group. Serum The level of inflammatory cytokines was ameliorated in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from mice treated with rifampicin. We next examined whether rifampicin has anti-atopic activity via suppression of mast cell activation. Rifampicin suppressed the release of β-hexosaminidase and histamine from human mast cell (HMC)-1 stimulated with compound 48/80. Treatment with rifampicin inhibited secretion of TNF-α and PGD2 in mast cells activated by compound 48/80. The mRNA expression of COX-2 was reduced in the cells treated with rifampicin. Our findings suggest that rifampicin has efficacy and could be applicable to develop potent therapeutic reagent for the treatment of asthma.