An antiinflammatory effect of salmeterol, a long-acting β2 agonist, assessed in airway biopsies and bronchoalveolar lavage in asthma

Abstract

The addition of long-acting β2 agonists to inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy in symptomatic patients with asthma improves clinical status more than increasing the dose of ICS. It has been suggested that these benefits could be at the cost of an increase in airway inflammation, but few histopathological studies have been performed in the relevant group. In a double-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled study, we randomly assigned 50 symptomatic patients with asthma who were receiving ICS (range, 100-500 μg/d) to 12 wk of supplementary treatment with salmeterol (50 μg twice daily) or fluticasone (100 μg twice daily) or placebo. Bronchial biopsies and BAL were obtained from 45 patients b..