Omalizumab therapy for bullous pemphigoid

Development of bullous pemphigoid during nivolumab therapy

“…At this early stage of nivolumab treatment, prednisone and conventional immunosuppressive medications were relatively contraindicated, as they could interfere with the intended antitumor activity of nivolumab. Omalizumab, which was successfully used to treat BP in a small case series, 1 was selected as a steroid-sparing agent given her elevated IgE level. The omalizumab was dosed using the asthma nomogram 1 .…”

IgE-mediated mechanisms in bullous pemphigoid and other autoimmune bullous diseases

“…[31,32] Treatment options are mainly oral and/or topical superpotent corticosteroids frequently combined with immunomodulants such as dapsone and tetracyclines or immunosuppressant agents like azathioprine and methotrexate. [33,34] Recent reports about the successful treatment of individual BP patients with the anti-IgE antibody omalizumab [35][36][37][38][39][40] suggest a pathogenic relevance of IgE autoantibodies.…”

Personalized Medicine in Allergy

“…Nevertheless, they concluded that despite the positive results obtained with omalizumab, further investigations are necessary to demonstrate anti-IgE therapy's efficacy in atopic dermatitis. Interesting results also came from the application of omalizumab in bullous pemphigoid, with a significant decrease in the eosinophilia that tipically accompanied this cutaneous disease 88. In association with desensitizing immunotherapy, omalizumab showed clinical efficacy in reducing symptoms in polysensitized children and adolescents with seasonal allergic rhinitis,89 showing discordant results in patients with chronic rhinitis and nasal polyposis,9091 both entities which are hypothetically present in asthmatic patients.…”