Tachykinin receptors antagonism for asthma: a systematic review

This review systematically examines randomized controlled trials evaluating the effect of tachykinins receptors antagonism on asthma. Symptoms, airway inflammation, lung function and airway inflammation were considered as outcomes. We searched the Cochrane Airways Group Specialized Register of Asthma Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE/PubMed and EMBASE. The search is as current as June 2010. Quality rating of included studies followed the Cochrane Collaboration and GRADE Profiler approaches. However, data were not pooled together due to different measures among the studies.Our systematic review showed the potential of NK receptor antagonist to decrease airway responsiveness and to improve lung function. However, effects on airway inflammation and asthma symptoms were poorly or not described.The limited available evidence suggests that tachykinin receptors antagonists may decrease airway responsiveness and improve lung function in patients with asthma. Further large randomized trials are still required.A sharp increase in the prevalence, morbidity, mortality, and economic burden associated with asthma over the last 40 years, particularly in children is occurring. Approximately 300 million people worldwide have asthma, and its prevalence increases by 50% every decade [1]. Because no asthma definition exists, an operational definition was proposed by the Global Initiative for Asthma: a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways associated with airway hyperesponsiveness that leads to recurrent episodes of wheezing, breathlessness, chest tightness, and coughing [1]. Therefore, asthma is a phenotypically heterogeneous disorder and, over the years, many different clinical subtypes of asthma have been described.Recently, a model of interaction between different pathophysiologic mechanisms known to affect asthma phenotype was suggested [2]. This is of particular importance not only to recognize asthma as a complex disease for which different endogenou