title: Airway smooth muscle: a potential target for asthma therapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Asthma is a major public health problem that afflicts nearly one in 20 people worldwide. Despite available treatments, asthma symptoms remain poorly controlled in a significant minority of asthma patients, especially those with severe disease. Accordingly, much ongoing effort has been directed at developing new therapeutic strategies; these efforts are described in detail below.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although mucus hypersecretion is an important component of asthma pathobiology, the primary mechanism of morbidity and mortality in asthma is excessive narrowing of the airway. The key end- effector of excessive airway narrowing is airway smooth muscle (ASM) contraction; overcoming ASM contraction is therefore a prominent therapeutic strategy. Here, we review exciting new advances aimed at ASM relaxation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exciting advances in ASM biology have identified new therapeutic targets for the prevention or reversal of bronchoconstriction in asthma.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Medicine bDepartment of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA cCenter for Vascular Biology Research, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Maria L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Dowell
authors.forename: Tera L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Lavoie
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Solway
authors.forename: Ramaswamy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Krishnan
mesh_terms: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016084:Bronchoconstriction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents