Drug therapy for ocular allergy

Abstract

The spectrum of ocular allergy ranges from mild, non-sight threatening disease, such as hay fever, to disorders such as atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC) which cause permanent ocular surface changes and reduced vision. The ideal treatment is with topical preparations. Launched topical preparations include anti-histamines and mast cell (MC) stabilisers, which are safe, but only moderately potent, steroids, which are very potent, but carry very serious side-effects, and cyclosporin A, which is not widely available and difficult to tolerate. There are a number of anti-histamines, MC stabilisers (and combinations thereof) and steroids in development which are of potential interest. Other possibilities for therapeutic intervention include inhibition of tryptase, cyclooxygenase (COX), leukotrienes (LTs), bradykinins (BKs), platelet activating factor (PAF) and immunoglobulin E (IgE). Therapies based on cytokine antagonism and agonism, T-cell inhibition and adhesion molecule antagonism might be expected to provide safe, but potent new modes of treatment. The increasing interest in research into the pathogenesis of ocular allergic inflammation may lead to more relevant approaches, such as eosinophil inhibition. Success will be highly dependent on the ability to produce suitable topical ophthalmic preparations.