Short-term therapeutic effectiveness of tezepelumab in patients with severe asthma: A real-world study

Background: Tezepelumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody which specifically binds to thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), thus effectively inhibiting its pleiotropic pathogenic actions. Tezepelumab has been licensed for add-on biologic therapy of severe asthma, regardless of biomarker levels or phenotype expression. Objective: The aim of this real-life, retrospective, single-centre investigation has been to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of tezepelumab in different phenotypes of severe asthma. Methods: At baseline and after 4 weeks of add-on therapy with tezepelumab, several clinical, functional and biologic parameters were assessed in 30 patients with either T2-high or T2-low severe asthma, who had been or not previously treated with other biologics. Results: After 4 weeks of treatment, tezepelumab induced significant improvements in symptom control (ACT score), asthma-related quality of life (AQLQ score), oral corticosteroid intake, and lung function (FEV1, FEF25–75, Rtot). Tezepelumab also significantly decreased the levels of fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and blood basophil count. Moreover, tezepelumab significantly lowered the serum concentrations of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The above clinical, functional, and biologic effects of tezepelumab were observed in both T2-high and T2-low severe asthmatic patients, as well as in subjects with or without previous therapeutic experiences based on the use of other biologics. Conclusions: The results of this real-world study suggest that tezepelumab can be used, in both T2-high and T2-low severe asthmatic patients, as a valuable add-on biologic drug characterized by a very fast onset of action.