title: Taste receptors in asthma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although today's cornerstone therapies for asthma (inhaled bronchodilators and corticosteroids) target airway narrowing and lung inflammation, about half of treated asthmatic patients do not achieve good disease control. There is a clear need for new therapeutic approaches and novel drug targets. Recent research has unexpectedly revealed that certain taste receptors (particularly those involved in bitter taste transduction) are expressed in lung tissue.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Bitter taste receptors are expressed in several cell types in the lungs (such as chemosensory cells, epithelial cells, smooth muscle cells, lymphocytes, and macrophages) and variously involved in ciliary beating, muscle relaxation, and/or inhibition of the production of inflammatory mediators. Here, we review recent research on the role of bitter taste receptors in experimental models of asthma and in asthmatics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The currently available data suggest that bitter taste receptor agonists have therapeutic potential in chronic obstructive airway diseases such as asthma.
authors.affiliation: aLaboratoire de Pharmacologie Respiratoire UPRES EA220, Hôpital Foch, Suresnes bUniversité Versailles Saint-Quentin, UFR Sciences de la Santé Simone Veil, Montigny-Le-Bretonneux, France.
authors.forename: Stanislas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grassin-Delyle
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Naline
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Devillier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000378:metabolism; D008168:Lung / Q000378:metabolism*; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000819:agonists / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000098706:Taste Receptors, Type 2
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D000098706:Taste Receptors, Type 2