Morley J
Mumed Ltd, London, UK.
Immunol Today. 1993 Jun;14(6):317-22. doi: 10.1016/0167-5699(93)90052-M.
Acute symptoms of asthma are largely a consequence of contraction of airway smooth muscle, yet emphasis in asthma pharmacology has shifted away from smooth muscle dysfunction and refocussed upon inflammatory events in the airway mucosa and submucosa. Thus, as described by John Morley existing anti-asthma drugs are used either to suppress inflammatory events (as preventive therapy), or to relieve obstruction to airflow (as symptomatic therapy). There is now a prospect of novel drugs that, by inhibiting phosphodiesterase isoenzymes selectively, will combine preventive and symptomatic therapies within a single molecule. Since atopy is associated with aberrant expression of phosphodiesterase isoenzymes in mononuclear cells, such therapies may belie their pragmatic origins and be envisaged as targeting a specific molecular defect.
哮喘的急性症状主要是气道平滑肌收缩的结果，然而哮喘药理学的重点已从平滑肌功能障碍转移，转而聚焦于气道黏膜和黏膜下层的炎症事件。因此，正如约翰·莫利所描述的，现有的抗哮喘药物要么用于抑制炎症事件（作为预防性治疗），要么用于缓解气流阻塞（作为症状性治疗）。现在有一种新型药物的前景，即通过选择性抑制磷酸二酯酶同工酶，将预防性和症状性治疗结合在一个分子内。由于特应性与单核细胞中磷酸二酯酶同工酶的异常表达有关，这种治疗方法可能与其实际起源不符，可设想为针对一种特定的分子缺陷。
