Publications by authors named "Tomasz Hawro"
Mortality in adult patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria: A real world cohort study.
J Allergy Clin Immunol
December 2024
Background: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), a common and debilitating disease, is widely held not to be life-limiting, but the mortality of CSU has not been investigated.
Objective: To assess all-cause mortality in CSU patients, risk for comorbidities that are leading causes of death and impact of guideline-recommended urticaria treatments on mortality rates.
Methods: This is a retrospective population-based cohort study of electronic health records of 272,190 adult CSU patients and 12,728,913 non-urticaria controls from the US Collaborative TriNetx Analytics Network.
The Mastocytosis Control Test: A Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Assessing Disease Control.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
December 2024
Background: Mastocytosis is characterized by expanding neoplastic mast cells in organs such as the skin, bone marrow, and gastrointestinal tract. The release of mast cell mediators triggers cutaneous, gastrointestinal, and other symptoms. Currently, no validated mastocytosis-specific patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) exists to assess disease control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Palmoplantar pustular psoriasis (PPPP) is a chronic skin condition that causes pustules on the palms and soles, affecting patients' lives and requiring better treatment options.
- * Researchers assessed the effectiveness and safety of deucravacitinib, a new oral medication, by analyzing five patients' responses over 16 weeks.
- * Results showed mixed initial reactions, with some patients improving and manageable side effects, but further studies with larger groups are needed to fully evaluate deucravacitinib's potential in treating PPPP.
Article Synopsis
- Patients with primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) often suffer from intense itching (pruritus) that greatly diminishes their quality of life, and the reasons behind this itching are not well understood. * A study involved 142 CTCL patients and 129 healthy subjects, assessing factors like itch intensity and various blood markers related to inflammation and immune response, finding that itch was more severe in CTCL patients compared to those with other skin conditions. * The research identified several key blood markers (like IL-31 and substance P) that are linked to pruritus in CTCL, suggesting these could be potential targets for new treatments aimed at alleviating the severe itching experienced by these patients.
Article Synopsis
- A significant percentage (31.2%) of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) experience non-skin-related symptoms (NSRS) like recurrent fever, joint/bone/muscle pain, and malaise.
- These NSRS are linked to various trigger factors such as food and infections, as well as clinical characteristics like sleep disturbances and elevated inflammation markers.
- Patients with NSRS tend to have worse disease activity, longer duration of CSU, lower quality of life, and a higher likelihood of poor control over their symptoms, highlighting the need for improved management strategies.
Importance: Chronic prurigo (CPG), including prurigo nodularis, is a difficult disease to treat and considerably affects patients' quality of life. Helping patients obtain control of CPG is a major treatment goal.
Objective: To develop and validate the Prurigo Control Test (PCT), a tool for assessing disease control in CPG, and to identify a cutoff value for controlled disease to aid treatment decisions.
Background: Patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) have spontaneous wheals (W), angioedema (AE), or both, for longer than 6 weeks. Clinical differences between patients with standalone W, standalone AE, and W and AE (W+AE) remain incompletely understood.
Objective: To compare W, AE, and W+AE CSU patients regarding demographics, disease characteristics, comorbidities, disease burden, and treatment response.
Article Synopsis
- Primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCL) affect the skin and include mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome, characterized by an abnormal buildup of T-lymphocytes.
- Severe itching (pruritus) is a major symptom of CTCL that can severely impact patients' emotional well-being and overall quality of life, but managing it is challenging due to unclear underlying causes.
- This review identifies key mediators (such as proteases and neuropeptides) and receptors involved in CTCL-related itch, suggesting that future treatments should focus on targeting these mechanisms.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and urticarial vasculitis (UV) both cause skin wheals, but they are different conditions that need better ways to tell them apart.
- Researchers studied 106 patients with UV and 126 with CSU to find out how these two conditions differ in terms of symptoms and treatment.
- They discovered that UV patients often have longer-lasting wheals, skin pain, and other symptoms like fever, and they usually need stronger treatments compared to CSU patients.
Background: Indolent systemic mastocytosis (ISM) is characterized by excessive mast cell (MC) accumulation and MC-driven signs and symptoms. Currently used therapies are not approved and have limited efficacy. Lirentelimab (AK002) is a monoclonal antibody against sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectin (Siglec)-8 that inhibits MC activation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Benefit of Complete Response to Treatment in Patients With Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria-CURE Results.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
February 2023
Article Synopsis
- Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a distressing condition affecting patients’ sleep and overall quality of life, as highlighted by findings from the global Chronic Urticaria Registry (CURE).
- Data showed that as patients progressed in treatment, many achieved better control of their symptoms, particularly those with higher Urticaria Control Test (UCT) scores, which were linked to improved sleep and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
- The study revealed discrepancies between patient-reported measures and physician assessments, indicating that patient-reported outcomes like UCT and UAS7 may provide a more accurate reflection of CSU states compared to physician evaluations.
Article Synopsis
- Chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU), a condition caused by mast cell-mediated allergic reactions, can be effectively treated with barzolvolimab, a humanized antibody that inhibits mast cell activation by stem cell factor (SCF).* -
- In a trial involving patients unresponsive to antihistamines, one dose of barzolvolimab resulted in significant mast cell depletion and reduced levels of tryptase, leading to improved urticaria control and quality of life.* -
- The treatment was well tolerated with mostly mild side effects, and 95% of patients showed complete responses within 12 weeks, indicating strong potential for barzolvolimab in treating mast cell-related disorders.*
Article Synopsis
- * A detailed literature review of studies was conducted, narrowing down from 3,882 articles to 107 relevant studies that examined histamine levels following various triggers in different types of CIndU.
- * The findings confirm that while histamine is an important factor in CIndU, it is not the only one involved, as there is often a weak correlation between histamine levels and symptom severity, indicating other mediators may also be significant.
Article Synopsis
- This study looked at chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) to understand how the disease's activity, effects on patients, and control relate to each other.
- Researchers measured these factors using a special test and found that they are closely connected.
- It was also discovered that having other problems like recurrent angioedema or chronic inducible urticaria doesn't change this relationship.
Autoimmune Diseases Are Linked to Type IIb Autoimmune Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria.
Allergy Asthma Immunol Res
July 2021
Purpose: Patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) have an increased risk for comorbid autoimmune diseases. In this retrospective multicenter study of CSU patients, we evaluated clinical and laboratory features of CSU associated with a higher risk of comorbid autoimmune diseases.
Methods: We analyzed records of CSU patients (n = 1,199) for a history or presence of autoimmune diseases.
Background: Urticarial vasculitis (UV) is defined by long-lasting urticarial lesions combined with the histopathologic findings of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. As one of the major unmet needs in UV, diagnostic criteria are rather vague and not standardized. Moreover, there seems to be considerable overlap with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), particularly for the normocomplementemic variant of UV.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Sleep disturbance remains insufficiently characterized in many dermatoses.
Objective: To investigate the prevalence, burden, and factors associated with sleep disturbance in dermatologic patients.
Methods: We recruited 800 patients and recorded pruritus characteristics and sociodemographic and clinical parameters.
The Diagnostic Workup in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria-What to Test and Why.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
June 2021
Article Synopsis
- Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) is a condition that causes itchy hives, and doctors don't always know which tests to run for it.
- Researchers looked into this by studying lots of information to figure out which tests are helpful for different patients with CSU.
- They came up with a list of questions and tests that doctors can use to better understand CSU and find out if there are other problems that could be causing the symptoms.
Background: Mas gene-related G protein-coupled receptors (MRGPRs) are a G protein-coupled receptor family responsive to various exogenous and endogenous agonists, playing a fundamental role in pain and itch sensation. The primate-specific family member MRGPRX2 and its murine orthologue MRGPRB2 are expressed by mast cells mediating IgE-independent signaling and pseudoallergic drug reactions.
Objectives: Our aim was to increase knowledge about the function and regulation of MRGPRX2/MRGPRB2, which is of major importance in prevention of drug hypersensitivity reactions and drug-induced pruritus.
Introduction: Flare reactions arise due to the release of vasodilators from sensory nerves caused by antidromic transmission of action potentials after the induction of itch.
Objective: We investigated the link between flare and itch using 3 models of itch.
Methods: Skin provocations with histamine, capsaicin, and cowhage were performed in 31 subjects.
Background: Pruritus often accompanies chronic skin diseases, exerting considerable burden on many areas of patient functioning; this burden and the features of pruritus remain insufficiently characterized.
Objective: To investigate characteristics, including localization patterns, and burden of pruritus in patients with chronic dermatoses.
Methods: We recruited 800 patients with active chronic skin diseases.
Symptomatic Dermographism: A Systematic Review of Treatment Options.
J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract
October 2020
Background: Symptomatic dermographism (SD), the most common form of chronic inducible urticaria, presents with transient wheals accompanied by itching in response to scratching. Little is known about available treatment options and their efficacy in SD.
Objective: To systematically review the efficacy of treatment options for patients with SD.