Unique Effect of Aspirin Therapy on Biomarkers in Aspirin-exacerbated Respiratory Disease. A Prospective Trial

Rationale: Daily high-dose aspirin therapy benefits many patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease but provides no benefit for aspirin-tolerant patients with asthma. Type 2 inflammation characterizes aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. Objectives: To determine whether high-dose aspirin therapy changes biomarkers of type 2 inflammation in aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease. Methods: Forty-two subjects with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease underwent an aspirin desensitization and were placed on high-dose aspirin (1,300 mg daily). Fifteen aspirin-tolerant subjects with asthma were also placed on high-dose aspirin. Biologic specimens and clinical parameters were collected at baseline and after 8 weeks on aspirin. Urinary eicosanoids, plasma tryptase and cytokine levels, platelet-leukocyte aggregates, and granulocyte transcripts were assessed. Measurements and Main Results: Eight weeks of high-dose aspirin decreased nasal symptoms and urinary prostaglandin E metabolite ( P  < 0.05) and increased urinary leukotriene E 4 ( P  < 0.01) levels in subjects with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease, but not in those with aspirin-tolerant asthma. Urinary prostaglandin D 2 and thromboxane metabolites decreased in both groups. Only in subjects with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease, exhaled nitric oxide ( P  < 0.05), plasma tryptase ( P  < 0.01), and blood eosinophil ( P  < 0.01) and basophil ( P  < 0.01) counts increased and plasma tryptase correlated with eosinophil counts (Pearson r  = 0.514; P  < 0.01) on aspirin. After correction for eosinophil counts, aspirin-induced changes in blood granulocyte transcripts did not differ between groups. Aspirin had no effect on platelet-leukocyte aggregates, platelet activation markers, or plasma cytokines in either group. Conclusions: High-dose aspirin therapy for 8 weeks paradoxically increases markers of type 2 inflammation in subjects with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease, despite reducing nasal symptoms. This effect of aspirin is unique to aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease and not observed in subjects with aspirin-tolerant asthma.