Early responders within seven days of dupilumab treatment for severe asthma evaluated by patient-reported outcome: a pilot study

• Published in: Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine 2021-03, Vol.16 (1), p.736-736
• Main Authors: Tani, Nozomi, Kataoka, Nobutaka, Kunimatsu, Yusuke, Tachibana, Yusuke, Sugimoto, Takumi, Sato, Izumi, Ogura, Yuri, Hirose, Kazuki, Takeda, Takayuki
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original
• ISSN: 1828-695X; 2049-6958
• DOI: 10.4081/mrm.2021.736

The management of severe asthma-associated symptoms is essential since they are distressing to the affected patients, and also greatly impair their quality of life. Dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody, blocks interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 signaling, both of which are crucial in acquired and innate immunity pathways through fast signal transduction, leading to an early response to treatment. Although rapid improvement within 1-3 days after dupilumab treatment was observed in moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, an early response within 7 days of dupilumab treatment in severe asthma has not been reported. Twelve consecutive patients with severe asthma who were newly treated with dupilumab between July 2019 and April 2020 were retrospectively investigated. We evaluated the early response (within 7 days) of patients with severe asthma receiving dupilumab therapy. Asthma control test (ACT) and the daily ACT, which was modified from the ACT to evaluate daily symptoms associated with asthma, were adopted as patient-reported outcomes (PROs) at week 8 and within 7 days, respectively. Patients were stratified into early responders (7 days), late responders (week 8), and non-responders without significant improvement in PROs. Descriptive statistics were adopted due to the limited number of patients. Four of these 12 patients were early responders, with the following baseline characteristics: body mass index,