Leukotriene Receptors and Aspirin Sensitivity

About 15 million people in the United States have asthma. In a small percentage of them, variably estimated at between 3 percent and 10 percent, acute, severe asthma accompanied by rhinorrhea and sometimes associated with hives, flushing, or abdominal pain develops after the ingestion of aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Patients with this syndrome, known as aspirin-sensitive asthma, often have severe rhinosinusitis and nasal polyposis. It is important to recognize aspirin-sensitive asthma clinically because severe episodes are life-threatening. The common feature of drugs that provoke asthma attacks in aspirin-intolerant persons is that they inhibit cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1); selective inhibition of . . .