Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jan;20(1):66-72.
doi: 10.1097/MCP.0000000000000011.

Airway smooth muscle: a potential target for asthma therapy

Maria L Dowell  1 , Tera L Lavoie, Julian Solway, Ramaswamy Krishnan
Affiliations
Review

Airway smooth muscle: a potential target for asthma therapy

Maria L Dowell et al. Curr Opin Pulm Med. 2014 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose of review: Asthma is a major public health problem that afflicts nearly one in 20 people worldwide. Despite available treatments, asthma symptoms remain poorly controlled in a significant minority of asthma patients, especially those with severe disease. Accordingly, much ongoing effort has been directed at developing new therapeutic strategies; these efforts are described in detail below.

Recent findings: Although mucus hypersecretion is an important component of asthma pathobiology, the primary mechanism of morbidity and mortality in asthma is excessive narrowing of the airway. The key end- effector of excessive airway narrowing is airway smooth muscle (ASM) contraction; overcoming ASM contraction is therefore a prominent therapeutic strategy. Here, we review exciting new advances aimed at ASM relaxation.

Summary: Exciting advances in ASM biology have identified new therapeutic targets for the prevention or reversal of bronchoconstriction in asthma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances