Mapping atopic dermatitis and anti–IL-22 response signatures to type 2–low severe neutrophilic asthma
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background:
Transcriptomic changes in patients who respond clinically to biological therapies may identify responses in other tissues or diseases.
Objective:
We sought to determine whether a disease signature identified in atopic dermatitis (AD) is seen in adults with severe asthma and whether a transcriptomic signature for patients with AD who respond clinically to anti–IL-22 (fezakinumab [FZ]) is enriched in severe asthma.
Methods:
An AD disease signature was obtained from analysis of differentially expressed genes between AD lesional and nonlesional skin biopsies. Differentially expressed genes from lesional skin from therapeutic superresponders before and after 12 weeks of FZ treatment defined the FZ-response signature. Gene set variation analysis was used to produce enrichment scores of AD and FZ-response signatures in the Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Disease Outcomes asthma cohort.
Results:
The AD disease signature (112 upregulated genes) encompassing inflammatory, T-cell, TH2, and TH17/TH22 pathways was enriched in the blood and sputum of patients with asthma with increasing severity. Patients with asthma with sputum neutrophilia and mixed granulocyte phenotypes were the most enriched (P < .05). The FZ-response signature (296 downregulated genes) was enriched in asthmatic blood (P < .05) and particularly in neutrophilic and mixed granulocytic sputum (P < .05). These data were confirmed in sputum of the Airway Disease Endotyping for Personalized Therapeutics cohort. IL-22 mRNA across tissues did not correlate with FZ-response enrichment scores, but this response signature correlated with TH22/IL-22 pathways.
Conclusions:
The FZ-response signature in AD identifies severe neutrophilic asthmatic patients as potential responders to FZ therapy. This approach will help identify patients for future asthma clinical trials of drugs used successfully in other chronic diseases.
Transcriptomic changes in patients who respond clinically to biological therapies may identify responses in other tissues or diseases.
Objective:
We sought to determine whether a disease signature identified in atopic dermatitis (AD) is seen in adults with severe asthma and whether a transcriptomic signature for patients with AD who respond clinically to anti–IL-22 (fezakinumab [FZ]) is enriched in severe asthma.
Methods:
An AD disease signature was obtained from analysis of differentially expressed genes between AD lesional and nonlesional skin biopsies. Differentially expressed genes from lesional skin from therapeutic superresponders before and after 12 weeks of FZ treatment defined the FZ-response signature. Gene set variation analysis was used to produce enrichment scores of AD and FZ-response signatures in the Unbiased Biomarkers for the Prediction of Respiratory Disease Outcomes asthma cohort.
Results:
The AD disease signature (112 upregulated genes) encompassing inflammatory, T-cell, TH2, and TH17/TH22 pathways was enriched in the blood and sputum of patients with asthma with increasing severity. Patients with asthma with sputum neutrophilia and mixed granulocyte phenotypes were the most enriched (P < .05). The FZ-response signature (296 downregulated genes) was enriched in asthmatic blood (P < .05) and particularly in neutrophilic and mixed granulocytic sputum (P < .05). These data were confirmed in sputum of the Airway Disease Endotyping for Personalized Therapeutics cohort. IL-22 mRNA across tissues did not correlate with FZ-response enrichment scores, but this response signature correlated with TH22/IL-22 pathways.
Conclusions:
The FZ-response signature in AD identifies severe neutrophilic asthmatic patients as potential responders to FZ therapy. This approach will help identify patients for future asthma clinical trials of drugs used successfully in other chronic diseases.
Date Issued
2022-01-01
Date Acceptance
2021-04-09
Citation
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2022, 149 (1), pp.89-101
ISSN
0091-6749
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
89
End Page
101
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
Volume
149
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2021 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Subjects
Fezakinumab
IL-22
atopic dermatitis
gene set variation analysis
severe asthma
U-BIOPRED Study Group
1107 Immunology
Allergy
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-04-20