Antihistamines for cancer immunotherapy: More than just treating allergies

Song Chen; Andrew D Luster

doi:10.1016/j.ccell.2021.11.007

Antihistamines for cancer immunotherapy: More than just treating allergies

Cancer Cell. 2022 Jan 10;40(1):9-11. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.11.007. Epub 2021 Dec 2.

Authors

Song Chen¹, Andrew D Luster²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
² Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: aluster@mgh.harvard.edu.

Abstract

In this issue of Cancer Cell, Li et al. show that histamine released in allergic reactions and from tumor cells attenuates immunotherapy response. Histamine H₁-receptor (H₁R) signaling induces an M2-like phenotype in tumor-associated macrophages and increases VISTA expression, suppressing CD8⁺ T cell function. Antihistamines reverse these effects and improve the efficacy of immunotherapy.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Histamine / metabolism*
Histamine Antagonists / pharmacology*
Humans
Hypersensitivity / genetics
Immunotherapy* / methods
Neoplasms / drug therapy*
Signal Transduction / drug effects

Substances

Histamine Antagonists
Histamine

Grants and funding

R01 CA204028/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States