Biologic therapy is associated with selective changes in airway eosinophil subpopulations in severe asthma
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Rationale
Eosinophilic airway inflammation is common in severe asthma and strongly associated with symptoms, exacerbations, and impaired lung function. Although type 2 (T2)-targeted biologics improve outcomes and reduce eosinophils, many patients experience residual symptoms and exacerbations. Emerging evidence suggests that these biologics may differentially affect specific airway eosinophil subpopulations, representing a potential mechanism of suboptimal treatment response.
Objective
Determine the effect of biologic treatment on eosinophil subpopulations in adults with severe asthma using in-depth immune profiling with mass cytometry (CyTOF).
Methods
Fifty adults with severe asthma (28 biologic-naïve, 22 on stable-dose biologic therapy for ≥6 months) underwent clinical phenotyping, spirometry, blood sampling, and sputum induction. Twenty-nine sputum samples passed quality control thresholds and were profiled by CyTOF. Manually gated sputum eosinophils were clustered using FlowSOM to identify eosinophil subpopulations, and cluster abundances and marker expression were compared across treatment groups.
Measurements and Main Results
CyTOF revealed treatment-associated shifts in circulating immune cells (lower CD4+ T cells and B cells, higher monocytes) and lower sputum CD8+ T cells. Unsupervised clustering of sputum eosinophils identified eight distinct subpopulations, and selective depletion of Cluster 6 was noted in biologic-treated participants (biologic-naïve vs anti-TSLP logFC −4.98, p=0.003; biologic-naïve vs anti-IL5 logFC −6.89, p=0.01). Higher Cluster 6 proportion correlated with worse ACT scores (rho = −0.44, p = 0.02) and lung function (FEV1 % predicted: rho = −0.47, p < 0.01; FEV1/FVC: rho = −0.40, p = 0.03). Functionally, Cluster 6 displayed enriched trafficking/activation markers (CCR3/Eotaxin-1, CD69, CD80, CRTH2) and non-T2 inflammatory mediators (TNFα, IL-8, TLR7).
Conclusion
Biologic therapy in severe asthma was associated with selective depletion of a highly activated sputum eosinophil subpopulation with capability to drive both T2 and non-T2 inflammatory pathways. This cluster correlated with worse asthma control and lung function, indicating it may be a biologically important driver of persistent disease and potential biomarker to more accurately predict treatment response.
