Real-life rapidity of benralizumab effects in patients with severe allergic eosinophilic asthma: Assessment of blood eosinophils, symptom control, lung function and oral corticosteroid intake after the first drug dose.
Pulm Pharmacol Ther
; 58: 101830, 2019 10.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31344472
ABSTRACT
Benralizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody which binds to the α subunit of the interleukin-5 (IL-5) receptor and to the FcγRIIIa receptor expressed by natural killer cells, thus suppressing the pro-eosinophil actions of IL-5 and triggering eosinophil apoptosis via the very effective mechanism of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). Because of its recent approval and introduction in clinical practice for the add-on biological therapy of severe eosinophilic asthma, real-life investigations are still lacking. In this regard, our present real-life study refers to 13 patients with severe allergic eosinophilic asthma, currently under treatment with benralizumab at the Respiratory Unit of "Magna Græcia" University Hospital located in Catanzaro, Italy. Already 4 weeks after the first subcutaneous injection of benralizumab at the dosage of 30â¯mg, blood eosinophil count rapidly dropped down from 814.7⯱â¯292.3â¯cells/µL to 51.3⯱â¯97.5â¯cells/µL (pâ¯<â¯0.0001). This relevant hematologic change was associated with quick and significant increases in asthma control test (ACT) score (from 15.31⯱â¯2.78 to 21.15⯱â¯3.58; pâ¯<â¯0.0001), pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1â¯s (FEV1) (from 1441⯱â¯757.9â¯mL to 1887⯱â¯837.3â¯mL; pâ¯<â¯0.001), and morning peak expiratory flow (PEF) (from 4.21⯱â¯2.20 to 5.33⯱â¯1.99â¯L/sec; pâ¯<â¯0.01). Furthermore, the marked improvement in global health status experienced by our patients allowed them to progressively lower and then completely interrupt, within 4 weeks, their daily intake of oral corticosteroids (OCS), which thereby fell from 15.58⯱â¯8.30 to 0â¯mg (pâ¯<â¯0.0001) of prednisone. Therefore, such preliminary results suggest that in patients with severe allergic eosinophilic asthma benralizumab can exert, within a real-life context, a very rapid and effective therapeutic action, already detectable 4 weeks after the first drug administration.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Asma
/
Antiasmáticos
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Eosinofilia
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Anticorpos Monoclonais Humanizados
Tipo de estudo:
Diagnostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
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Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Pulm Pharmacol Ther
Assunto da revista:
FARMACOLOGIA
Ano de publicação:
2019
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Itália