Wyss event: Need for Improved Diagnostic Biomarkers for the Identification and Treatment of Asthma, Sinus Disease, and Respiratory Inflammation

Tanya M. Laidlaw, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (HMS); Director, AERD Center, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH); Chief, Section of Clinical and Translational Sciences, BWH

Hosted by Wyss Core Faculty David R. Walt, PhD, Diagnostics Grand Rounds brings clinicians with unmet needs to the Wyss Institute. The goal of these sessions is to inform technology developers about important clinical problems that can help them direct their technology development efforts. Presenters are asked to identify diagnostic needs that will have an impact on the quality of care they deliver.

Many forms of respiratory inflammation, including moderate-to-severe asthma, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps with or without aspirin/NSAID hypersensitivity, and allergic rhinitis, are classically referred to as diseases of “Type 2 inflammation” or “allergic inflammation”. While true, these overly simplistic descriptions are misleading in their implication that all of the underlying inflammation fits neatly into one type or one box. Unfortunately, the existing diagnostic biomarkers to identify these populations are limited to a few clinical symptoms and the very narrowly focused clinical tests of total serum IgE and peripheral eosinophil count. There are now also 5-7 targeted FDA-approved biologic therapies to treat these respiratory diseases, but the existing diagnostic biomarkers are insufficient to fully immunologically define incoming patients. Therefore, clinicians are left unable to appropriately match each patient with the most appropriate biologic – rather, they are stuck guessing at which treatment might be best for their patient. Dr. Tanya M. Laidlaw, MD, will present and discuss how this unmet clinical diagnostic need may be best approached and solved through development of improved biomarkers.