Anticytokine therapy of allergic asthma

Abstract

Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways that is characterized by episodes of shortness of breath, expiratory dyspnea, cough, wheezing, and pulmonary emphysema. At the present time, asthma is a global public health problem and affects about 5% of the worldwide population. Although a wide range of anti-inflammatory drugs is available, uncontrolled or poorly controlled asthma is still a problem, requiring the development of novel therapeutic approaches. Intense studies of the molecular mechanisms of asthma in transgenic animals performed since the 1990s implicated cytokines, such as IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13, and their receptors in the initiation and maintenance of asthma. These findings led to anticytokine therapy as a novel approach for bronchial asthma treatment. To date, many preclinical and clinical studies have been performed in this field especially with drugs based on humanized monoclonal antibodies, soluble receptors, peptide inhibitors, etc. The review summarizes the data from preclinical and clinical studies of anti-cytokine therapeutics in humans.