Table 2.
Studies of urticaria treated with omalizumab
| Study characteristics | Number of patients | Omalizumab treatment | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st author | year | SU | HU | CU | DPU | UF | ChU | CIU | CAU | effect | side effects | dose | comment |
| Case studies | |||||||||||||
| Boyce [5] | 2006 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | unknown | 375 mg/2 w | the patient was 12 years of age | |||||||
| Spector [6] | 2007 | 2 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | unknown | varying | serum total IgE was between 9 and 2,557 kU/l | ||||||
| Güzelbey [7] | 2008 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | unknown | 150 mg/4 w | baseline serum total IgE was 22 kU/l | |||||||
| Godse [8] | 2008 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | unknown | 300 mg/4 w | baseline serum total IgE was 778 kU/l | |||||||
| Metz [9] | 2008 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | none | 150 mg/4 w | complete resolution after 5 w of treatment | |||||||
| Otto [10] | 2009 | 1 | ↑ | unknown | 300 mg/4 w | sweat collected by pilocarpine iontophoresis | |||||||
| Magerl [11] | 2010 | 1 | 7 | ↑↑ | few | varying | the patient with DPU responded only partially | ||||||
| Vestergaard [12] | 2010 | 2 | ↑↑↑ | some | varying | one patient had abdominal side effects | |||||||
| Krause [13] | 2010 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | none | 300 mg/2 w | symptoms recurred as drug was discontinued | |||||||
| Waibel [14] | 2010 | 1 | ↑ | unknown | 400 mg/2 w | UVB action spectrum improved more than UVA | |||||||
| Romano [15] | 2010 | 2 | ↑↑↑ | unknown | 400 mg/2 w | SPT positivity maintained during treatment | |||||||
| Bullerkotte [16] | 2010 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | none | 450 mg/2 w | symptoms recurred when dose was lowered | |||||||
| Sabroe [17] | 2010 | 1 | → | none | 300 mg/2 w | baseline serum total IgE was 1,523 kU/ml | |||||||
| Bindslev-Jensen [18] | 2010 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | none | 150 mg/2 w | marked decrease in basophil releasability | |||||||
| Al-Ahmad [19] | 2010 | 3 | ↑↑↑ | none | 300 mg/4 w | no symptoms 12 w after discontinuation | |||||||
| Iemoli [20] | 2010 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | unknown | 300 mg/2 w | ↓ in TNF-a and IL-4; ↑ in IFN-γ | |||||||
| Saavedra [21] | 2011 | 1 | ↑↑ | none | 300 mg/2 w | 80% decrease in the expression of FceRI | |||||||
| Groffik [22] | 2011 | 9 | ↑↑ | few | varying | effect is the average across all patients | |||||||
| Metz [23] | 2011 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ↑↑ | none | varying | five of seven patients responded completely | |||
| Godse [24] | 2011 | 5 | ↑↑ | few | 300 mg/2–4 w | the urticaria activity score (UAS) was used | |||||||
| Sánchez-Machín [25] | 2011 | 1 | ↑↑↑ | none | 300 mg/2 w | increase in activity of CD4+ by ATP release | |||||||
| Duchini [26] | 2011 | 1 | → | unknown | 150 mg/4 w | reactive to UVA and visible light but not UVB | |||||||
| Observational studies | |||||||||||||
| Kaplan [27] | 2008 | 12 | ↑↑ | none | varying | one patient was a nonresponder to treatment | |||||||
| Ferrer [28] | 2011 | 9 | ↑↑ | unknown | 300 mg | basophil counts did not change significantly | |||||||
| Controlled trials | |||||||||||||
| Maurer [29] | 2011 | patients had IgE against thyroperoxidase | |||||||||||
| 27 | ↑↑ | in 81.5% | varying | UAS decreased 17.8 points during treatment | |||||||||
| 22 | ↑ | in 86.4% | placebo | UAS decreased 5.8 points during treatment | |||||||||
| Saini [30] | 2011 | 75 mg omalizumab not better than placebo | |||||||||||
| 21 | ↑↑ | in 47.6% | 600 mg | UAS decreased 14.6 points during treatment | |||||||||
| 25 | ↑↑ | in 48.0% | 300 mg | UAS decreased 19.9 points during treatment | |||||||||
| 23 | ↑ | in 34.8% | 75 mg | UAS decreased 9.8 points during treatment | |||||||||
| 21 | ↑ | in 47.6% | placebo | UAS decreased 6.9 points during treatment | |||||||||
SU = Solar urticaria; HU = heat urticaria; CU = cold urticaria; DPU = delayed pressure urticaria; UF = urticaria factitia; ChU = cholinergic urticaria; CIU = chronic idiopathic urticaria; CAU = chronic autoimmune urticaria. Effect is overall change in clinical symptoms after treatment with omalizumab; no response (→), partial (↑), almost complete (↑↑) or complete (↑↑↑) resolution of symptoms. w = Weeks.