Late onset asthma

Interleukin (IL)-5 is the main cytokine responsible for the activation of eosinophils, hence therapeutic strategies have been investigated and developed for clinical use. Biologics targeting IL-5 and its receptor (first mepolizumab and subsequently, reslizumab and benralizumab), have been recently approved and used as add-on therapy for severe eosinophilic asthma resulting in a reduction in the circulating eosinophil count, improvement in lung function and exacerbation reduction in patients with severe asthma.
Response to biologic therapies in severe asthma is variable, with patients being either non-responders, responders or super-responders. There is currently no explanation for this broad variation in response. It is important to examine whether these patients have distinct characteristics that could help the treating physician in making the correct diagnosis in clinical practice.
Aim of this clinical study is to evaluate the efficacy of mepolizumab, a humanized IL-5 antagonist monoclonal antibody in patients with late-onset severe eosinophilic asthma with fixed obstruction and to identify the characteristics of non-responders and super-responders under mepolizumab treatment. This study is considered as non-interventional and every procedure included is happening in a clinical routine for the diagnosis and phenotyping of the asthmatic patients.
Hypothesis includes the efficacy of mepolizumab treatment in late-onset severe eosinophilic asthmatic patients with fixed obstruction and relation to clinical and inflammatory biomarkers.
Patients will be collected from the outpatient clinics of bronchial asthma from each site included (8 in number) which cover the whole population of Greece.
Overall, this is a prospective multicenter study including eight Pulmonary Clinics. Five Pulmonary University Clinics, two of National Health System and one Army General Hospital in Thessaloniki. The study will include a screening period of up to 2 weeks to assess eligibility and obtain written informed consent, a mepolizumab treatment period of 52 weeks, once every 4 weeks, including follow up visits every 3 months during treatment. The study population will consist of 45 patients with late-onset severe eosinophilic asthma and fixed obstruction receiving mepolizumab, aged 20 and above.

Introduction: Late-onset asthma in women is characterized by poor disease control and reduced quality of life despite intensive treatment with inhaled steroid and beta2-agonist. The condition is further worsened at menopause due to the loss of estrogen leading to increased asthma exacerbation frequency, increased airway inflammation and decreased lung function. Exercise training may increase disease control of asthma patients, but to what extent the same effect is seen in postmenopausal women with late-onset asthma is unknown. These asthma patients represent a phenotype that is characterized by low eosinophilic airway inflammation, severe symptoms, moderate obesity and poor response to conventional medicine. Thus, our hypothesis is that regular physical exercise is especially associated with an improvement in asthma control in this phenotype. The aim of this project is to test this hypothesis and to assess whether an improvement is associated with reduced local and systemic inflammation, change in heart function, lung function and/or body composition.
Study design: 40 postmenopausal women with late-onset asthma are recruited via the outpatient clinic at the Respiratory Department at Bispebjerg Hospital and through advertisement. The participants are randomized 1:1 into two groups. One group performs supervised exercise training (spinning) three times per week for 12 weeks while the other group is a control group. Before and after the intervention asthma control, local and systemic inflammation, heart function and body composition is measured.
Results: Analysis will be performed to detect changes within and between the groups before and after intervention. Primary outcome is change in ACQ (Asthma Control Questionnaire). Local and systemic inflammation is measured by changes in bronchial challenge to methacholine, sputum cell count and blood tests. Furthermore, secondary outcomes include change in heart function measured by stress-echocardiography and change in body composition measured by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA).
Conclusion: There are to date no prospective studies that can support recommendations containing asthma rehabilitation with supervised regular physical activity for postmenopausal women. Thus, this study will provide novel understanding of the importance of physical activity in a chronic disease such as asthma.

A cross-sectional study in asthma patients to determine if a late age of onset asthma (start symptoms >18 years old), is associated with more persistent airway/systemic inflammation, worse asthma control, more co-morbidity, a different microbiome and poorer quality of life despite the use of optimized asthma therapy.