Basophil marker expression in chronic urticaria

Kronična urtikarija je bolezen prepoznavna po nastanku urtik, angioedema in srbečice na koži. Vzroki in tudi sam mehanizem bolezni v večini primerov ni poznan, prav tako tudi ne mehanizem delovanja učinkovin. Pri bolnikih s hudo obliko bolezni, se za zdravljenje uporablja učinkovina omalizumab, vendar se vsi na terapijo ne odzovejo enako. Zaradi tega smo zasnovali raziskavo, kjer smo pridobili kri in tkivo 51 bolnikov zdravljenih z zdravilom omalizumab. Iz krvi in tkiva smo izolirali mRNA, ji določili koncentracijo in kakovost, ter s pomočjo RT-qPCR metode merili relativno izražanje petih označevalcev, in sicer: FCER1A, CPA3, HDC, CCL3 in KIT. S pomočjo določanja označevalcev smo poskušali določiti spremembe mastocitov in bazofilcev med samim zdravljenjem bolezni, ter le-te povezati z različnim odzivom na zdravljenje. Iz rezultatov so razvidni trendi, ki podpirajo teorijo o migraciji bazofilcev med aktivnim stadijem bolezni. Poleg tega je s pomočjo označevalcev možno ločiti bolnike, ki so odzivni na terapijo z omalizumabom, od tistih, ki ne kažejo znakov izboljšanja po prejeti terapiji, kar bi lahko služilo kot diagnostična metoda za določanje njihove odzivnosti pred začetkom terapije.Chronic urticaria is a disease characterized by appearance of wheals, pruritus and angioedema. In most cases, etiology and mechanism of the disease are not well understood, as is the mechanism of action of active substances used in treatment. In severe chronic urticaria cases, patients are treated with omalizumab, but not everyone responds equally to the therapy. Therefore, this study was conducted, where blood and tissue samples from 51 patients treated with omalizumab were obtained. From those samples we isolated mRNA, determined its concentration and quality, and measured the relative expression of five markers (FCER1A, CPA3, HDC, CCL3, and KIT) using RT-qPCR method. By identifying expression of markers, we tried to find changes in mast cells and basophils during the treatment of the disease, and correlate it with the different responses to the treatment. Our results show trends in support of the theory of basophil migration during the active stage of the disease. In addition, markers can be used to distinguish patients who respond to omalizumab therapy from those who don’t, which could have clinical implications as a diagnostic method to determine their response before initiation of therapy