Leukotrienes, leukotriene receptor antagonists, and rhinitis.

Abstract

A series of clinical studies have shown the ef®cacy of leukotriene (LT) receptor antagonists (LTRAs) in the treatment of bronchial asthma (1±6). LTRAs relieve bronchospasm, prevent exercise-induced asthma, and reduce bronchial hyperresponsiveness. LTRAs also have some anti-in ammatory activity in that they reduce the number of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar lavage uid (7), and the content of NO in the exhaled air of asthmatic children (8). LTRAs have been recently introduced for the treatment of asthma, but their place in the management of the disease has not yet been de®ned. As asthma and rhinitis are manifestations of similar in ammatory reactions in the lower and the upper airways, it is natural to speculate whether LTRAs may be useful also in the management of rhinitis. A bene®cial effect can be taken as evidence for a role played by LTs in the upper airways. In this paper, we present an overview of the published literature on the role of LTs in rhinitis and the effect of LTRAs. Considering the large number of studies on asthma, the number of reports on rhinitis is astonishingly low and, for that reason, this review is short.