scholarly journals Effectiveness of omalizumab in a patient with severe asthma and atopic dermatitis

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Incorvaia ◽  
C. Pravettoni ◽  
M. Mauro ◽  
M.-R. Yacoub ◽  
F. Tarantini ◽  
...  

The anti-IgE antibody omalizumab is currently indicated in severe asthma not controlled by standard drug therapy. Recently, new indications for omalizumab were suggested, which include atopic dermatitis (AD), a skin disorder characterized by elevated levels of IgE. We report the case of a 39-year old woman with severe asthma and severe AD, both resistant to conventional drug treatment. The patient had a IgE level of 1304 kU/L, which exceeded the recommended maximum level for treating asthma with omalizumab (stated in 700 Ku/L) but was far lower than previously reported in cases of AD treated with anti-IgE. The treatment consisted of a dose of omalizumab 375 mg every two weeks, and induced a rapid improvement of asthma, with no need of other drugs after three months, along with a progressive decline of severity of AD, which after five months was completely cured. These findings suggest the usefulness of omalizumab in patients with concomitant severe asthma and AD, also considering the pharmaco-economic balance obtained by withdrawing the multiple drugs used to treat both diseases.

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nozomi Tani ◽  
Nobutaka Kataoka ◽  
Yusuke Kunimatsu ◽  
Yusuke Tachibana ◽  
Takumi Sugimoto ◽  
...  

Background: 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. Methods: 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.Results: Four of these 12 patients were early responders, with the following baseline characteristics: body mass index, <25 kg/m2; without depression; baseline forced expiratory volume in 1 second, <1.50 L; and more than one exacerbation in 1 year. On the other hand, five were late responders, and 44.4% of the nine responders were early responders. The higher the eosinophilic count and/or FeNO did not show any relationship between the early responder and nonresponder.Conclusions: The effect of dupilumab on severe asthma in patients with atopic features could be started earlier than 2 weeks, similar to atopic dermatitis. Daily ACT may be useful in monitoring the early efficacy of dupilumab in treating severe asthma.


2020 ◽  
pp. 120347542098255
Author(s):  
Kayadri Ratnarajah ◽  
Michelle Le ◽  
Anastasiya Muntyanu ◽  
Steve Mathieu ◽  
Simon Nigen ◽  
...  

Dupilumab, a monoclonal antibody against the common receptor of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13, was the first biologic therapy approved in Canada for treatment of moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis (AD). While it is considered safe and effective, dupilumab is not universally effective and 8%-38% of patients develop conjunctivitis, while some patients develop head and neck dermatitis. Thus, new therapeutic options are warranted. While both IL-4 and IL-13 play important roles in the pathogenesis of AD, it has been recently demonstrated that IL-13 is the primary upregulated cytokine in AD skin biopsy samples. A placebo-controlled phase 2b clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of lebrikizumab, an IL-13 inhibitor, in AD demonstrated that, at 16 weeks, Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) 75 and Investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA) 0/1 were achieved by 60.6% and 44.6% of patients taking lebrikizumab at its highest dose (vs 24.3% and 15.3% of patients taking placebo, respectively). Moreover, treatment with lebrikizumab was associated with rapid improvement of pruritus and low rates of conjunctivitis (1.4%-3.8%). Another IL-13 monoclonal antibody, tralokinumab, was evaluated for safety and efficacy in moderate-to-severe AD. By week 12, among adults receiving 300 mg tralokinumab, 42.5% achieved EASI-75 and 26.7% achieved IGA 0/1 score (vs 15.5% and 11.8% in the placebo group, respectively). Both lebrikizumab and tralokinumab demonstrated acceptable safety profiles in AD (and non-AD) trials with adverse events often being comparable between treatment and control groups. Thus, IL-13 inhibitors may provide a safe and effective treatment alternative for patients with moderate-to-severe AD.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Maurizio Romagnuolo ◽  
Mauro Barbareschi ◽  
Simona Tavecchio ◽  
Luisa Angileri ◽  
Silvia Mariel Ferrucci

Alopecia areata (AA), an autoimmune disease with a relapsing-remitting course, represents the second cause of non­scarring alopecia worldwide and is associated with several comorbidities, notably atopic dermatitis (AD). In particular, AD is related to its more severe forms alopecia totalis (AT) and alopecia universalis (AU) [Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2017;3:17011]. Considering that AA has been classified as T helper 1-driven disease, whereas AD is the prototypical T helper 2 (Th2)-driven skin disorder, recent studies suggest that these forms may underlie a different chemokine expression resulting in a Th2 skewing as a key pathomechanism that could explain this association [JAMA Dermatol. 2015 May;151(5):522–8]. Several reports showed that dupilumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting the interleukin 4α receptor and thus downregulating Th2 response, led to an improvement of AA associated with AD; most of these patients were females with AT or AU, early-onset AD, and atopic comorbidities [Exp Dermatol. 2020 Aug;29(8):726–32]. We report here a case to further support this hypothesis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-390
Author(s):  
F. I. Penu ◽  
S. M. Ivy ◽  
F. Ahmed ◽  
J. Uddin ◽  
M. S. Hossain ◽  
...  

The present study was carried out to investigate phytochemical, antioxidant; antimicrobial, thrombolytic activity and estimate total phenolic, total flavonoid content of Pandanus odoratissimus (p.odoratissimus) leaves of methanol extract. In thrombolytic activity, aqueous soluble fraction (AQSF) exhibited highest percentage (46.58 %) of potential to lyse blood clot compared to standard drug streptokinase (69.52 %). In antimicrobial assay, dichloromethane soluble fraction (DCMSF) explored the highest diameter of clear zone of inhibition against both gram positive (19.60 ± 0.12 mm) and gram negative (20.00 ± 0.20 mm) bacteria compared to standard antibiotic, Kanamycin (50.00 ± 0.19). Levels of antioxidant were determined by DPPH assay followed by calculated IC50 values of different Kupchan extracts. The methyl soluble fraction (MSF) showed the lowest level of IC50 value (36.70 ± 0.32 µg/mL) in comparison to ascorbic acid (12.48 ± 0.09 µg/mL) while MSF disclosed the maximum level (62.19 ±  0.26 mg of GAE/g of extract) of total phenolic content in the extracts of P. odoratissimus. This study was conducted to validate the P. odoratissimus leaves used as a folk medicine such as, antioxidant, thrombolytic, and antimicrobial potential.


Author(s):  
Mukul Sharma ◽  
Pushpendra Singh

: Leprosy is caused by extremely slow-growing and uncultivated mycobacterial pathogens, namely Mycobacterium leprae and M. lepromatosis. Nearly 95% of the new cases of leprosy recorded globally are found in India, Brazil, and 20 other priority countries [WHO, 2019], of which nearly two-thirds of the cases are reported in India alone. Currently, leprosy is treated with dapsone, rifampicin, and clofazimine, also known as multi-drug therapy [MDT], as per the recommendations of WHO since 1981. Still, the number of new leprosy cases recorded globally has remained constant in the last one-decade ,and resistance to multiple drugs has been documented in various parts of the world, even though relapses are rare in patients treated with MDT. Antimicrobial resistance testing against M. leprae or the evaluation of the anti-leprosy activity of new drugs remains a challenge as leprosy bacilli do not grow in vitro. Besides, developing a new drug against leprosy through the conventional drug development process is not economically attractive or viable for pharma companies. Therefore, a promising alternative is the repurposing of existing drugs/approved medications or their derivatives for assessing their anti-leprosy potential. It is an efficient method to identify novel medicinal and therapeutic properties of approved drug molecules. Any combinatorial chemotherapy that combines these repurposed drugs with the existing first-line [MDT] and second-line drugs could improve the bactericidal and synergistic effects against these notorious bacteria and can help in achieving the much-cherished goal of “leprosy-free world”. This review highlights novel opportunities for drug repurposing to combat resistance to current therapeutic approaches.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dai Park ◽  
Nguyen P. Tran ◽  
Jerald M. Duncan ◽  
D. Betty Lew

<em>Momordica charantia</em> (bitter melon) is popular in systems of traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases including atopic dermatitis, which is an inflammatory, chronically relapsing skin disorder characterized by dry, scaly, pruritic skin. While there is growing community interest in adopting bitter melon as a complementary medicine, there are no clinical studies looking at its use for atopic dermatitis. Here we report a case of a 6-yearold female with severe refractory atopic dermatitis that responded to treatment with topical bitter melon in an open half-side comparison trial.


2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-65
Author(s):  
Amalui Vasquez Perez ◽  
Anna Bobé Pol ◽  
Elizabeth Rua Hernandez ◽  
Marc García Lorenzo ◽  
Alba Gomez Serra ◽  
...  

Introduction and objectives: Relationship between the causal mechanisms of pediatric severe asthma and severity of symptoms would be helpful for developing personalized strategies for treatment and prevention.Materials and methods: For this study, 698 medical histories of asthmatics between 6 and 18 years of age were reviewed in a period of 2 years. Variables analyzed were: age, sex, ethnicity, perinatological history, allergy history, asthma predictive index (API), exposure to tobacco, heavy traffic or epithelium, lung function, age of onset of symptoms, hospitalization admissions/PICU, systemic corticosteroids, daily symptoms control, device prescribe for daily control, and adherence.Results: A total of 86 children with severe asthma were included (12.3%). Mean age 13.3 +/− 1.86 years, sex ratio1:1, mean age of symptom onset 2.765 +/− 3.06 years, mean IgE 1076.18KU / L +/− 1136, mean eosinophils 604c / mcl +/− 511.9, mean of FEV1 93.15% +/− 16.3. Evidently, 70 children (81.4%) had positive API, 68 (79.1%) rhinitis, 34 (39.5%) atopic dermatitis. 73 (83.9%) sensitized to inhalants and 56 (65.1%) to dermatophagoides, 39 (45.3%) passive smokers, 19 (22.1%) exposure to heavy traffic; 55 (64%) showed symptoms with exercise, 35 (40.7%) had audible wheezing. The mean systemic corticosteroid cycles/year was 3.63 +/− 3.23, mean PICU admissions 0.36 +/− 0.83, mean hospital admissions 4.31 +/− 5.3, average emergency room visits/year 19.44 +/− 16.28. 38 (56.7%) had good adherence, 44 (51%) used an MDI device and 39 (45.3%) used dry powder.Conclusions: Children with severe asthma meet the following criteria: premature, positive API, rhinitis, atopic dermatitis, high IgE, eosinophilia, passive smokers, exposure to heavy traffic, decreased lung function, and low adherence to controller medication.


Author(s):  
I. S. Krysanov ◽  
V. S. Krysanova ◽  
O. I. Karpov ◽  
V. Yu. Ermakova

The prevalence of comorbidity — asthma and atopic dermatitis — is not understood well yet. More severe processes decreasing quality of life and increasing a social-economic burden of disease are occurred in such kind comorbidity.Aim: an evaluation of economic burden of non-control severe asthma in combination with severe atopic dermatitis in the local conditions.Materials and methods. Analysis has been performed for adult patients; the bottom-up approach of costs evaluation was used. Direct medical and non-medical as well as indirect costs were calculated for two models: Model 1 — current practice of the treatment, Model 2 — treatment with Dupilumab. Results. Model 1 — Weighted average expenditures for one patient were 3,1 mln RUR, indirect costs were dominated (76 % from the total), severe atopic dermatitis had 15 % of total. Model 2 (with Dupilumab) — Dupilumab has decreased the total weighted average cost on 903 905 RUR. The total economic burden of comorbidity was 17,6 bln RUR in the current treatment option, and 12,4 bln RUR in Dupilumab hand (different is 5,2 bln RUR, or burden decrease is expected on 29,2 %).Conclusion. The wider introduction of Dupilumab into clinical practice, which allows achieving control in the treatment of severe asthma and severe atopic dermatitis, should reduce treatment costs and reduce the socio-economic burden of these diseases as a result.


Dermatitis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian S. Kim ◽  
Jonathan I. Silverberg ◽  
Sonja Ständer ◽  
Gil Yosipovitch ◽  
Eric L. Simpson ◽  
...  

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