Treatment of Asthma with Drugs Modifying the Leukotriene Pathway

In 1979 and 1980, the chemical structures of the material previously known as slow-reacting substance of anaphylaxis were elucidated as 5(S)- hydroxy- 6(R)-glutathionyl- 7,9- trans -11,14- cis - eico- satetraenoic acid 1 and its cysteinyl-glycyl and cysteinyl congener (also known as leukotrienes C 4 , D 4 , and E 4 , respectively). These molecules were so named because the parent molecule was originally isolated from leukocytes, and its carbon backbone contained three double bonds in series, which constitutes a triene. This structural information provided the key to the oxidative pathway of lipid metabolism known as the 5-lipoxygenase pathway. One of . . .