Ana M. Giménez-Arnau, Laurence DeMontojoye, Riccardo Asero, Massimo Cugno, Kanokvalai Kulthanan, Yuhki Yanase, Michihiro Hide, Allen P. Kaplan
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2021 Apr 3:S2213-2198(21)00374-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jaip.2021.03.033. Epub ahead of print.
In chronic spontaneous urticaria, cutaneous mast cells are activated to initiate the process. There are different triggers, including the hypothesis that it is an autoimmune disease not driven by exposure to an exogenous agent.
It is characterized by a perivascular non-necrotizing cellular infiltrate around small venules of the skin. These infiltrates include CD4+ lymphocytes, Th2 and Th1 subtypes, Th17 cell-derived cytokines, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils and monocytes, which contribute to the pathogenesis and responsiveness to steroid
This review focuses on each cell’s contribution to the inflammatory response and a view toward developing therapeutic options.
Immunohistochemistry can help reveal the function of each cell within the perivenular infiltrate. Rituximab efficacy is probably due to the prevention of autoantibody synthesis. Corticosteroids inhibit the function of T lymphocytes and eosinophils and prevent egress of most cell types from the bloodstream into tissues.
In the future, there may be studies that include drugs with increasing specificity in the course of urticaria, such as secukinumab (targets IL-17), dupilumab (targets TH-2 dependent cytokines, IL-4 and IL-3), mepolizumab, reslizumab and benralizumab (target TH2 and eosinophil-dependent cytokines), avdoralimab (complement C5a receptor) and lirentelimab (targets Siglec-8 on the surface of mast cells and eosinophils).
