IgE: A Novel Target in Lupus? Asthma drug showed preliminary promise as add-on therapy

Omalizumab is a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody against human IgE that blocks the ability of IgE to bind FcεRI," the investigators explained. The resulting depletion of IgE is thought to reduce the level of autoantibodies and to block the production of type I interferon. It has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of chronic idiopathic urticaria and asthma. It was previously thought that most of the pathogenic autoantibodies that typify SLE belonged to the IgG subclass, but the NIH researchers recently demonstrated the presence of IgE antibodies against double-stranded (ds) DNA in a murine model. https://www.medpagetoday.com/rheumatology/lupus/77355?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2019-01-11&eun=g721819d0r&pos=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%20Headlines%202019-01-11&utm_term=NL_Daily_DHE_Active