Open Access<p>Sputum <em>Streptococcus pneumoniae</em> is reduced in COPD following treatment with benralizumab</p>
Author(s) -
Lauren George,
Adam Wright,
Vijay Mistry,
Amanda Sutcliffe,
Latifa Chachi,
Koirobi Haldar,
Mohammadali Yavari Ramsheh,
Matthew Richardson,
René van der Merwe,
Ubaldo J. Martin,
Paul Newbold,
Christopher E. Brightling
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease/international journal of copd
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1178-2005
pISSN - 1176-9106
DOI - 10.2147/copd.s198302
Subject(s) - medicine , benralizumab , streptococcus pneumoniae , copd , sputum , microbiology and biotechnology , pathology , antibiotics , asthma , tuberculosis , eosinophil , mepolizumab , biology
We hypothesized whether the reduction in eosinophilic airway inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) following treatment with benralizumab, a humanized, afucosylated, monoclonal antibody that binds to interleukin-5 receptor α, increases the airway bacterial load. Analysis of sputum samples of COPD patients participating in a Phase II trial of benralizumab indicated that sputum 16S rDNA load and Streptococcus pneumoniae were reduced following treatment with benralizumab. However, in vitro, eosinophils did not affect the killing of the common airway pathogens S. pneumoniae or Haemophilus influenzae . Thus, benralizumab may have an indirect effect upon airway bacterial load.