New immunopharmacologic approaches to asthma: Role of cytokine antagonism

This article involves an elucidation of the potential inflammatory mechanis ms associated with the treatment of allergic disease and asthma, and the po ssibility of cytokine antagonism as a potential therapeutic mechanism for t he treatment of those diseases. There is a review of the role of cytokines in the allergic process and a description of a number of studies done with the capacity of certain cytokine antagonists to develop potential ameliorat ion of immune dysregulation in asthma and atopic states.