The Role of Eosinophils and Basophils in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Role of Eosinophils and Basophils in Chronic Spontaneous (Idiopathic) Urticaria
IRAS ID
210530
Contact name
Stephen Till
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a common condition in which an itchy nettle rash appears on many parts of the body for no reason. This can be extremely uncomfortable, embarrassing and have a major effect on quality of life. The underlying cause is incompletely understood. Treatment is with high dosages of antihistamines to suppress the rash. Where antihistamines are not effective, tablet treatments that may suppress the immune system may be required. More recently a new injection treatment (omazlizumab) has been approved by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence for severe cases. However, not all patients respond to omalizumab and the effect rapidly wears off if the injections are not repeated monthly.
We previously examined the skin of CSU patients and compared the results to normal healthy donors. We found that some of the microscopic changes seen resemble those seen in the lungs of people with asthma. In particular there appear to be higher numbers of a type of white blood cell called the eosinophil. The eosinophil is believed to be at least partially responsible for the inflammation seen in asthma. A new treatment (called benralizumab) has been developed to target eosinophils (and related cells) and was shown to be effective in difficult to treat asthma.
The aim of this present study is to perform a more in depth analysis of the eosinophils in CSU. We will therefore collect skin samples (biopsies) from a larger group (40 CSU patients and 20 healthy subjects) to see if the numbers of eosinophils and their products are linked to CSU severity. If positive, this would provide a basis for a clinical trial of benralizumab in CSU.
REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0140
Date of REC Opinion
1 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion