Non-Antibiotic Effects of Macrolide Antibiotics of the Oleandomycin-Erythromycin Group With Special Reference to Their "Steroid-sparing" Effects
Previous papers in the literature reported the effectiveness of triacetyloleandomycin, a macrolide antibiotic, in the treatment of bronchial asthma. The beneficial effects were attributed to the antimicrobial characteristics of this compound. However, the antiasthmatic activity of the drug was found by Towniey et al. 14-18 to be retained in selected cases of asthmatics in the absence of clinically apparent or verifiable infections. | For this reason, I have undertaken to examine in animal experiments whether the anti-asthmatic activity of this and other macrolide antibiotics could be due to the possible steroid-like properties of these substances. As described below, I have concluded that the anti-asthmatic activity of these agents could be more easily explained at present by a steroid-sparing mechanism rather than by the possession of genuine steroid-like properties.
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