Abstract
In view of the fact that quinoline derivatives are potential therapeutic agents of collagen diseases, the authors have been using them in the management of bronchial asthma since 1959. Favorable effects of their long-term use upon bronchial asthma were in part reported in the previous papers. The present paper deals with results of observation in which many of the asthmatic patients have taken these drugs for as long as two years. For the past over two years, 405 out of 605 asthmatic patients were given either chloroquine diphosphate 200-300 mg. (354 cases) or chloroquine diorotate 300 mg (51 cases) daily in one to three divided doses. The drugs proved to be effective in 90 per cent of the treated patients and asthmatic attacks were no longer observable in 40 per cent of them. In contrast, the side effects of the drugs were rare and included slight, transient ophthalmic, gastrointestinal and neurologic complaints. In the course of the treatment no signs of liver impairment were noted. In patients whose peripheral blood showed leukocytosis prior to the therapy, the white cell count tended to decrease. There was no significant change in the percentage of circulating eosinophils but it, likewise, tended to decline with the treatment. In vitro tissue culture experiments in which these drugs were added to the medium demonstrated suppression of fibroblastic growth. This experimental evidence suggests some of the mechanisms of in vivo drug action in bronchial asthma.
