Eosinophilic asthma: Insights into the effects of reducing IL-5 receptor–positive cell levels

• Published in: Journal of allergy and clinical immunology 2013-11, Vol.132 (5), p.1097-1098
• Main Authors: Assa'ad, Amal H., MD, Rothenberg, Marc E., MD, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Airway management; Allergy and Immunology; Anti-Asthmatic Agents - therapeutic use; anti–IL-5; anti–IL-5 receptor; Asthma; Asthma - drug therapy; Asthma - immunology; Asthma - metabolism; benralizumab; Blood; Drug dosages; Eosinophils; Eosinophils - immunology; Eosinophils - metabolism; Humans; IL-5; Receptors, Interleukin-5 - antagonists & inhibitors; Receptors, Interleukin-5 - metabolism; steroid-dependent asthma
• ISSN: 0091-6749; 1097-6825
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2013.08.036

[...]more pertinent is the requirement for having a sputum eosinophil count of 2.5% or greater, even though they were taking inhaled corticosteroids, oral corticosteroids, or both at baseline. [...]these subjects whose baseline sputum eosinophil counts ranged from 2.5% to 73.9% fall into the category of eosinophilic asthmatic patients with resistance, at least in part, to corticosteroids.1 It is interesting to note that this population of patients appears to be particularly sensitive to biological therapy for asthma, including anti-IL-5, anti-IL-13, and anti-IgE.3-6 The primary outcome in this study moved us closer to the lung tissue by examining the effect of benralizumab on eosinophil counts in airway mucosal/submucosal biopsy specimens after 28 days of completing dosing.