title: Quinolone hypersensitivity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Quinolones are potent antibacterial agents that can cause drug hypersensitivity reactions affecting different organs. A better understanding of the underlying mechanism and the level of crossreactivity within different quinolones is needed to handle and prevent these diseases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The adverse side-effects caused by quinolones are the result of different immunological mechanisms and cause quite different diseases. The development of an assay detecting quinolone-specific IgE revealed specific antibodies in more than 50% of patients with immediate-type reactions, and the majority of sera also reacted with related compounds. In maculopapular drug exanthemas caused by ciprofloxacin, specific T cells could be detected and cloned. They reacted with ciprofloxacin directly, and crossreactivity to related compounds was detected in approximately 50% of the clones.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Quinolones can cause drug hypersensitivity reactions by different immunological mechanisms. In-vitro analysis suggests that crossreactivity is common.
authors.affiliation: Allergy Clinic, Nuovo Ospedale San Giovanni di Dio, Florence, Italy. allergy@asf.toscana.it
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Campi
authors.forename: Werner J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Pichler
mesh_terms: D001778:Blood Coagulation Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced; D003429:Cross Reactions; D017454:Dermatitis, Photoallergic; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000139:chemically induced; D006969:Hypersensitivity, Immediate / Q000139:chemically induced; D015363:Quinolones / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D015363:Quinolones