Protection of leukotriene receptor antagonist against aspirin-induced bronchospasm in asthmatics

Leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs) are used to treat aspirin-intolerant asthma (AIA); however, the protective effects of long-term LTRA administration against aspirin-induced bronchospasm have not been evaluated. We investigated the efficacy of a 12-week treatment with a LTRA in protecting against aspirin-induced asthma in AIA patients. Fifty-two adult patients with AIA underwent an aspirin challenge test just before administration of montelukast (10 mg/day) and just after 12 weeks of treatment. The protective effect was assessed as the disappearance of aspirin-induced bronchospasm after 12 weeks of treatment. The results were compared according to the patients' clinical and physiological parameters. The decline in FEV1 following aspirin challenge was significantly reduced from 28.6+/-1.9% to 10.2+/-1.7% (P=0.0001) after 12 weeks of montelukast treatment. However, 14 subjects (30%) still showed a positive response (>15% decline in FEV1) to aspirin challenge. Grouping the subjects into good and poor responders according to post-treatment responses revealed that the pretreatment aspirin-induced FEV1 decline was significantly greater in the poor responders and that the triggering dose of aspirin and the induction time for a positive response were lower and shorter, respectively, in the poor responders. Histories of aspirin hypersensitivity and sinusitis were more prevalent among the poor responders than among the good responders. Twelve weeks of treatment with montelukast protected against aspirin-induced bronchospasm in 70% of the AIA cases. A poor response was associated with more severe aspirin-induced bronchospasms before treatment and a history of aspirin hypersensitivity or sinusitis. A severe response to aspirin challenge may be a predictor of poor responsiveness to leukotriene antagonist treatment.