Table 2.

Representative drugs and targets for the treatment of mucus hypersecretion.

Link Acting on Airway Mucus Hypersecretion	Representative Compounds	TARGET or Mechanism	Reference
Epithelial Differentiation	S-Allylmercapto-L-cysteine *	NF-κB	[64]
	Obtusifolin *		[94]
	Flavonoid 7,4′-Dihydroxyflavone		[95]
	Luteolin *		[63]
	Platycodin D(3) *		[96]
	Tiotropium **	IL-13-STAT6-SPDEF	[65,97]
Ion Transport to Improve Hydration	Roflumilast **	CFTR	[98]
	Ivacaftor ***		[67]
	Hypertonic saline**	ENaC	[99]
	N-acetylcysteine **	Antioxidant	[100]
	Carbocisteine **	Thiol mucolytics	[79]
Mucus transport	Salmeterol and Formoterol **	Alter ciliary beat frequency	[69,101,102]

Note: (1) * Drugs in pre-clinical tests (2) ** most commonly used drugs. (3) *** Ivacaftor: limited to patients with CFTR mutations.