[Antileukotriene drugs: a new treatment for asthma]

Asthma incidence and prevalence have significantly increased during the last 25 years, making this pathology to be one of the most diffused in the industrialized world. It affects 5% of the adult population and the 10-15% of the children. The aethipathogenesis of asthma clearly involves a number of mediators, among which leukotrienes play an important role inducing bronchoconstriction, oedema and mucus hypersecretion. Thus, compounds inhibiting either the action or formation of these mediators are potentially interesting as antiasthma drugs. Two strategies for modulating the actions of the leukotrienes are currently undergoing clinical evaluation: cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonism and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) inhibition. These two classes of agents are here reviewed and their clinical utility as antiasthma drugs is evaluated.