Abstract
Background: A recent study of subjects with peanut allergy treated with omalizumab generated some results that were concordant with a study of subjects with cat allergy treated with omalizumab. However, there were differences that provided additional insight into the nature of the cellular responses in allergic subjects. Objective: We sought to determine the cause for failure to suppress the allergen-induced basophil response during treatment with omalizumab. Methods: Patients with peanut allergy were treated with omalizumab. Clinical, serologic, and cellular indices relevant to the response of the subjects and their peripheral blood basophil values (specific/total IgE ratio, cell-surface FcεRI expression, and histamine release responses to anti-IgE antibody or peanut allergen) were obtained at 3 times. Results: After treatment, approximately 60% of the subjects' basophil responses to peanut allergen did not significantly decrease. In 40% of cases, the in vitro basophil response to peanut allergen increased 2- to 7-fold. The increases were associated with 2 primary factors: a high (>10%) specific/total IgE ratio and an increase in the intrinsic response of the basophil to IgE-mediated stimulation. The extent to which the basophil response to peanut allergen increased was inversely correlated with improvement in the patient's ability to tolerate ingestion of peanut. Conclusion: The basophil response during treatment with omalizumab is a consequence of 2 competing factors: suppression of allergen-specific IgE on the cell surface versus increased intrinsic sensitivity to IgE-mediated stimulation. In subjects with peanut allergy, the basophil response appears to mitigate against the ability of omalizumab to improve the patient's tolerance of oral allergen.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1130-1135e5 |
Journal | Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology |
Volume | 130 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2012 |
Keywords
- Basophil
- IgE receptor
- anti-IgE
- peanut
- spleen tyrosine kinase
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Immunology and Allergy
- Immunology