High eosinophil count: A potential biomarker for assessing successful omalizumab treatment effects

摘要

To the Editor: Some patients with atopic asthma have ongoing symptoms and exacerbations despite normal lung function.1 Poor asthma control, or an exacerbation, often results in the need for intervention with oral corticosteroids.2 Many factors contribute to the loss of control including allergen exposure and/or a respiratory infection.3 Because IgE plays an important role in asthma, treatment to reduce serum IgE, and hence tissue-bound IgE, has been shown to modify the response to inhaled allergen and exacerbations.4'5 Omalizumab (Xolair; Genentech Inc, South San Francisco, Calif), an injectable recombinant humanized mAb that selectively binds to free IgE, is currently indicated in the United States for the treatment of patients (aged >12 years) with moderate-to-severe allergic asthma who remain inadequately controlled on inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).6