Essay abstract
Nature Immunology 9, 113 - 115 (2008)
doi:10.1038/ni0208-113
The cysteinyl leukotrienes: Where do they come from? What are they? Where are they going?
K Frank Austen1
- K. Frank Austen is with the Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. e-mail: fausten@rics.bwh.harvard.edu
Abstract
Cysteinyl leukotrienes are established mediators of bronchial asthma and have agonist roles analogous to those of histamine in allergic rhinitis. We now know that the substance originally termed slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis was composed of three cysteinyl leukotrienes that act in the inflammatory response via receptors on smooth muscle and on bone marrow–derived inflammatory cells. K. Frank Austen describes the work culminating in the identification, biosynthesis and functional characterization of these moieties.
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
SRS-A and the leukotrienesNature News and Views (08 May 1980)
Aneurysms: leukotrienes weaken aorta from the outsideNature Medicine News and Views (01 Sep 2004)
International prostaglandin conferenceNature News and Views (06 Sep 1979)
'Good' lipids for asthmaNature Medicine News and Views (01 Sep 2002)
