Beyond EOsinophils: proteoMICS to Identify Potential Biomarker of Organ Damage and Response to MEPOLIZUMAB in EGPA

Summary

Aim of the study is to identify potential biomarkers, through a proteomic approach, which could be used to evaluate organ damage and predict the response to mepolizumab in a cohort of patients affected by EGPA. Proteomic analyses will be performed using a proteomic platform, based on a nano-HPLC- couplet to an high resolution ESI-MS device, on three types of biological matrices: blood, saliva and sputum samples in both EGPA and severe asthmatic patients (as controls) at baseline and at different time points after starting treatment with mepolizumab, an anti-IL-5 drug, in order to cluster patients and to analyze the effect of the therapy during treatment, assessing the disease progression on three key aspects: lung function and symptoms control, vasculitis and neuropathy. Plasma analysis will provide an overview of quantitative/qualitative proteomic variations at systemic level after drug administration; however, a less invasive procedure is often sufficient and would improve trial recruitment. On this regard, saliva is a biological fluid well suitable to be used in proteomic investigations for suggestion of potential disease biomarkers and includes various potential advantages compared with blood sample collection such as lower overall cost, lower infection risk, increased patient convenience, acceptability, compliance and uptake. Moreover, the protein composition of the human saliva includes both specific proteins of the oral cavity and proteins common to other tissues and bodily fluids, so saliva prognostic and diagnostic role is particularly interesting. Consequently, the plan is to compare the proteomic results of the non-invasive saliva testing to that of blood examination. These data may be a further step to untangle the mechanisms of the disease and to characterize treatment's response, in the contest of a phenotype/endotype asthma management.

Timeline

Start

2025-10-17

Primary completion

2026-10-17

Completion

2028-09-30

Publications

• Background Steinfeld J, Bradford ES, Brown J, Mallett S, Yancey SW, Akuthota P, Cid MC, Gleich GJ, Jayne D, Khoury P, Langford CA, Merkel PA, Moosig F, Specks U, Weller PF, Wechsler ME. Evaluation of clinical benefit from treatment with mepolizumab for patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2019 Jun;143(6):2170-2177. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2018.11.041. Epub 2018 Dec 19.
• Background Wechsler ME, Akuthota P, Jayne D, Khoury P, Klion A, Langford CA, Merkel PA, Moosig F, Specks U, Cid MC, Luqmani R, Brown J, Mallett S, Philipson R, Yancey SW, Steinfeld J, Weller PF, Gleich GJ; EGPA Mepolizumab Study Team. Mepolizumab or Placebo for Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis. N Engl J Med. 2017 May 18;376(20):1921-1932. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1702079.
• Background Kahn JE, Grandpeix-Guyodo C, Marroun I, Catherinot E, Mellot F, Roufosse F, Bletry O. Sustained response to mepolizumab in refractory Churg-Strauss syndrome. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Jan;125(1):267-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2009.10.014. No abstract available.
• Background Puechal X, Pagnoux C, Baron G, Lifermann F, Geffray L, Quemeneur T, Saraux JL, Wislez M, Cottin V, Ruivard M, Limal N, Aouba A, Bonnotte B, Neel A, Agard C, Cohen P, Terrier B, Le Jeunne C, Mouthon L, Ravaud P, Guillevin L; French Vasculitis Study Group investigators. Non-severe eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis: long-term outcomes after remission-induction trial. Rheumatology (Oxford). 2019 Dec 1;58(12):2107-2116. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/kez139.
• Background Samson M, Puechal X, Devilliers H, Ribi C, Cohen P, Stern M, Pagnoux C, Mouthon L, Guillevin L; French Vasculitis Study Group. Long-term outcomes of 118 patients with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Churg-Strauss syndrome) enrolled in two prospective trials. J Autoimmun. 2013 Jun;43:60-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2013.03.003. Epub 2013 Apr 13.
• Background Jennette JC, Falk RJ, Bacon PA, Basu N, Cid MC, Ferrario F, Flores-Suarez LF, Gross WL, Guillevin L, Hagen EC, Hoffman GS, Jayne DR, Kallenberg CG, Lamprecht P, Langford CA, Luqmani RA, Mahr AD, Matteson EL, Merkel PA, Ozen S, Pusey CD, Rasmussen N, Rees AJ, Scott DG, Specks U, Stone JH, Takahashi K, Watts RA. 2012 revised International Chapel Hill Consensus Conference Nomenclature of Vasculitides. Arthritis Rheum. 2013 Jan;65(1):1-11. doi: 10.1002/art.37715. No abstract available.

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