Omalizumab is not just an anti-immunoglobulin E

Abstract

Introduction and purpose

The mechanism of omalizumab in urticaria is not literally known. Omalizumab may affect receptors on the mast cell surface in other ways, especially other than Fc epsilon RI.

Materials and Methods

Thirty patients who were treated with omalizumab with the diagnosis of chronic urticaria were included in the study. For serum vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), kallikrein (KAL), and substance p (SP) values, 5 mL of blood was taken from the patients. These bloods were centrifuged for 5 min and stored at −80° until the levels were measured. The changes in values measured at baseline, third month, and sixth month were analyzed by Friedman test. A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant results.

Results

While SP, KAL, and VIP values increased continuously, it was observed that the D-dimer value decreased.

Conclusion

This study shows that omalizumab can affect mast cells other than IgE. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show the relationship between omalizumab and VIP.

Keywords:

• Omalizumab
• substance P
• kallikrein
• vasoactive intestinal peptide
• D-dimer

Author contributions

GO-Y and IHY were involved in writing-review and conceptualization. HSİ was involved in conceptualization, data curation, writing-review, and editing. CB was involved in writing-review, conceptualization, and visualization.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest and no funding sources.

Data availability statement

Research data are not shared.