IgE Depletion with Ligelizumab Does Not Significantly Improve Clinical Symptoms in Patients with Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis

The value, if any, of anti-IgE approaches in the treatment of atopic dermatitis has not been fully clarified. Studies using the anti-IgE omalizumab have yielded conflicting results.Antibodies with an IgE-suppressive capacity stronger than omalizumab might be more efficacious.We assessed the safety and efficacy of the high-affinity anti-IgE antibody ligelizumab (280 mg, subcutaneous, every other week) in 22 adult patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis in a placebo and active (cyclosporine A) controlled, randomized, multicenter, double-blind clinical trial for 12 weeks.We found that ligelizumab treatment resulted in either complete (patients with baseline IgE < 1,500 IU/ml) or partial (baseline IgE > 1,500 IU/ml) suppression of serum and cell-bound IgE as well as of allergic skin prick tests. On the other hand, ligelizumab-as opposed to cyclosporine A-was not significantly superior to placebo in inducing Eczema Area and Severity Index 50 response or significantly reducing pruritus and sleep disturbance. Interestingly though, patients with high baseline IgE exhibited a slightly but not significantly better treatment response than those with low baseline IgE.Our study shows that an immunologically efficacious anti-IgE approach is not clearly superior to placebo in treating atopic dermatitis. Larger studies are needed to determine whether certain patient subgroups may benefit from this strategy.The study was registered in 2011 at clinicaltrialsregister.eu, EudraCT Number 2011-002112-84.