My laboratory focus on the cys-LT-mediated signaling pathways and their role in asthma and allergic diseases that would help us devise potential therapeutic strategies. Cys-LTs comprises of LTC4, LTD4, LTE4, that are potent bronchoconstrictors and powerful inducers of vascular leakage, causing all the symptoms observed during asthma and inflammatory responses like wheezing, coughing and mucous production. High levels of cys-LTs are observed in fluids from patients with asthma after challenge with allergens, making these candidates attractive targets for the therapy of asthma. Drugs that block cys-LT synthesis or their receptors are currently being used in the therapy of asthma. However these drugs mainly target only two players of this pathway, LTC4 and LTD4, but not LTE4. My research demonstrated that signal transduction by LTE4 is unique from that of LTC4 or LTD4 (upstream intermediates) and that it has a distinctive role in inflammation. Recently, using a mouse asthma model system, we identified a third CysLT3 receptor activated by LTE4.
