Bitter taste receptors as a target for bronchodilation

Despite the present treatments for asthma (beta beta(2)-adrenoceptor agonists, glucocorticoids, leukotriene receptor antagonists), many subjects with asthma have difficulty controlling it. Bitter taste receptors have recently been identified on human lung. The paper evaluated considers these receptors as a target for bronchodilation, by characterizing the effects of agonists in cultured human airway smooth muscle cells, isolated human bronchial smooth muscle and a mouse model of allergic asthma. The study confirmed that a bitter taste receptor (TAS2R) is a viable target for bronchodilation. Many diverse chemicals are known to stimulate the bitter taste receptors to produce the bitter taste, and many of these have more than one mechanism of action. Thus, it is not known whether any of these have clinical potential in asthma. It may be necessary to design and develop selective agonists for TAS2R, before the clinical potential of this target can be thoroughly investigated.