Journal Article

Effects of Omalizumab on Rhinovirus Infections, Illnesses, and Exacerbations of Asthma

Gern, James E, Busse, William W, Teach, Stephen J, Kim, Haejin, Szefler, Stanley J, Calatroni, Agustin, Liu, Andrew H, Hershey, G Khurana, West, Joseph B, Pongracic, Jaqueline A, Wildfire, Jeremy, Togias, Alkis G, Kercsmar, Carolyn M, Gruchalla, Rebecca S, Kattan, Meyer, Lebeau, Petra, Bochkov, Yury A, Esquivel, Ann, Grindle, Kristine G

2017

Overview

[...]because antiviral responses (e.g., type I IFN) limit rather than prevent viral infection, we hypothesized that omalizumab would reduce symptomatic RV illnesses without affecting the number of RV infections (defined as detection of RV regardless of the presence or absence of symptoms). [...]omalizumab treatment had no significant effect on the number of infections, although there were nonsignificant trends for fewer infections with RV-A or RV-B (Table 2). In our population of children with allergic asthma, baseline allergic inflammation and acute virusinduced effects are both likely to contribute to respiratory symptoms. [...]omalizumab's prevention of mast cell activation as well as the modification of IgE's action on antiviral properties could contribute to suppressing the severity of respiratory illnesses. [...]PROSE virology was focused on RV infections; however, other respiratory viruses and airway bacteria may also contribute to respiratory illnesses and exacerbations (39, 40), and there may be other relevant covariates that were not measured.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Subject: Allergies / Antiviral drugs / Asthma / Censuses / Confidence intervals / Immunotherapy / Infections / Inflammation / Influenza / Inner city / Low income groups / Monoclonal antibodies / Viral infections / Virology / Viruses