Airway hypersecretion is a serious and presently untreatable symptom of chronic
inflammatory airway diseases. Recently, it has been discovered that epithelial growth factor
receptor expression and activation causes mucin production in airways. An epithelial growth
factor receptor pathway is implicated in mucus cell differentiation induced by various stimuli;
therefore, inhibition of the epithelial growth factor receptor transduction cascade may
provide effective new treatments for hypersecretory airway diseases.