New perspectives in asthma treatment

The recent advances in the knowledge of the basic mechanisms underlying ast hmatic inflammation have significantly contributed to the delineation of ne w therapeutic perspectives for asthma. There are currently three main appro aches to the development of novel antiasthma treatments: 1) improvement in existing classes of drugs 2) identification of new compounds able to interfere with the complex netwo rk of proinflammatory mediators, cytokines, chemokines, and adhesion molecu les involved in the pathogenesis of asthma 3) utilization of new forms of immunotherapy aimed at blocking the unbalanc ed Th2 response which characterizes the pathophysiology of asthma. Such a remarkable expansion in available therapeutic options will probably allow us, over the next decade, to treat asthma by more selectively targeti ng the pathogenetic events responsible for this widespread airway disease.