All posts by Amity Westcott-Chavez

APFED to Host Virtual Patient Education Conference on Eosinophil-Associated Diseases, July 14-16, 2021

APFED Blog, Press Releases, What's New

EOS Connection 2021 will feature the latest research developments, practical management strategies, and opportunities for attendees to connect on an all-virtual platform

(Atlanta, GA)—The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) will host its 19th annual patient education conference, which features a three-day virtual program on eosinophil-associated diseases.

EOS Connection 2021 will provide a full conference experience using state-of-the-art virtual meeting technology. Patients, caregivers, families, advocates, healthcare providers, researchers, and education partners can learn and connect in the online environment that includes a theater to watch presentations, a poster hall highlighting new research, a networking lounge where attendees can interact, a new chat feature via text or video, and an exhibit hall where attendees can interact with conference partners, access resources and learn about products, services, and enrolling clinical trials.

Eosinophil-associated diseases are chronic inflammatory conditions characterized by elevated levels of eosinophils (a type of white blood cell) in one or more specific areas of the body. The higher-than-normal number of eosinophils cause inflammation and damage to tissues and organs. These chronic diseases require lifelong treatment and symptoms may be debilitating.

The live virtual events for EOS Connection 2021 will take place July 14- 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Eastern Time each day. Presentations from expert speakers will include sessions on research advancements in eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases and dietary therapies, as well as presentations specific to other subsets of eosinophil-associated diseases, including but not limited to eosinophilic asthma.  Attendees will also have opportunities to participate in live Q&A with the majority of presenters. After the live events conclude, recordings of the presentations and the poster and exhibit halls will continue to be available to attendees for on-demand access.

“This year’s agenda addresses a broad range of topics of importance to the eosinophilic disease community, and we’re grateful to our presenters, partners, and collaborators at CEGIR for the opportunity to deliver such an innovative and dynamic virtual education experience,” said APFED’s Executive Director Mary Jo Strobel. “We are pleased that the virtual format allows EOS Connection to once again widen our audience and become a true global event.”

Complimentary admission to EOS Connection 2021 is available to all APFED members.

EOS Connection 2021 is made possible thanks to the generous support of APFED’s Education Partners, including Presenting Partner Takeda; Diamond Partner Sanofi Genzyme and Regeneron; Platinum Partners Allakos, AstraZeneca, Abbott, Ellodi Pharmaceuticals, and Mead Johnson Nutrition; and Gold Partners Bristol Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Nutricia Neocate®, and Revolo Biotherapeutics.

To register for EOS Connection 2021, please visit: apfed.org/conference.

About the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED)

The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to passionately embrace, support, and improve the lives of patients and families affected by eosinophil-associated diseases through education and awareness, research, support, and advocacy. https://apfed.org/

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National Eosinophil Awareness Week (May 16-22, 2021) Recognizes Impact of Eosinophil-Associated Diseases

Announcements, APFED Blog, Press Releases, What's New

The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) will celebrate the 14th annual National Eosinophil Awareness Week (NEAW) from May 16-22, 2021. APFED is engaging people across the world to raise awareness of eosinophil-associated diseases.

Eosinophils (pronounced “ee-oh-sin-oh-fills”) are a type of white blood cell. They are part of the immune system and are involved in a number of conditions, including allergies and certain infections and inflammatory conditions. When a person has too many eosinophils, without a known cause, they may have an eosinophil-associated disease.

Eosinophil-associated diseases are rare and chronic conditions that require long-term management. Many patients experience delayed diagnosis. The diagnosis depends on where in the body the eosinophils are found. Eosinophil-associated diseases can be debilitating and impact quality of life. The conditions affect both adults and children.

In 2007, the third week of May was officially recognized as National Eosinophil Awareness Week when the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Bill 296. It is a special time in which patients, caregivers, health care providers, and organizations increase efforts to raise public awareness about these conditions.

“Every day, we are inspired by the resilience and strength of individuals with eosinophil-associated diseases and the family members who care for them,” said APFED Executive Director Mary Jo Strobel. “During National Eosinophil Awareness Week, sharing our stories offers hope to those who are affected and disseminating educational information helps the public understand the challenges of living with these conditions. With education and awareness, the diagnostic timeline decreases, suffering decreases, and research becomes better supported.”

APFED is grateful to its education partners for supporting its 2021 celebration of National Eosinophil Awareness Week. This includes Arena Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers SquibbTM, GlaxoSmithKline, Nutricia, the makers of NeocateⓇ, Sanofi Genzyme, Regeneron, and Takeda. Their support provides APFED with means to increase dissemination of educational materials to patients, providers, and the public.

To learn more about eosinophil-associated diseases and ways to celebrate National Eosinophil Awareness Week, please visit apfed.org/NEAW.

About American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED)

Founded in 2001, the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that assists and supports patients and families affected by eosinophil-associated disorders, by providing education, creating awareness, supporting research, and promoting advocacy. To learn more, visit apfed.org.

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Update on EoE Research Co-Funded by APFED

Announcements, APFED Blog, What's New

Important new research that may help identify the foods that cause eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) was recently published in the medical journal Allergy. The research study, co-funded by the 2020 Hope APFED/AAAAI Grant Award, is led by senior author David A. Hill, MD, PhD, an attending physician with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Division of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Hill recently shared this summary of his research findings with APFED:

Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic food allergy that affects the esophagus, the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach. The disease occurs when eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, accumulate in the esophagus causing pain and injury.

Specific foods cause EoE, but currently there are no tests to quickly and easily identify which foods are responsible for this disease in a particular individual. Instead, patients are treated with a combination of proton-pump inhibitors, elimination diets, and steroids with recurrent endoscopies to determine whether and how well treatment is working.

Given that the current management strategy often takes significant time to reduce symptoms, the Hill Lab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia sought to develop a simple test that could pinpoint foods that cause EoE early in the course of disease so that those foods could be eliminated. To do so, we used EoE milk allergy as a proxy, and looked for immune signatures that would identify EoE milk allergy when compared to healthy children. Our team found that patients with EoE milk allergy had elevated milk-dependent memory T helper cells, and that these cells produced more of a cytokine known as interleukin-4 that contributes to allergy. The elevation of these biomarkers occurred whether the patient had stopped consuming milk or was still actively consuming it.

This finding, if applied to a regularly used assay, could help determine not only what foods an individual should avoid, but also guide timing on reintroducing causal foods, since emerging evidence shows that some children can outgrow EoE after long periods of food avoidance. The test would involve a simple blood draw and could yield accurate results quickly.

Future studies will be aimed at validating this approach in a prospective trial, and determining whether similar assays could apply to other foods that cause EoE. We are very grateful to the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders for their support of this work and other research in our laboratory aimed at developing tools for the diagnosis and treatment of EoE.

 

APFED Announces 2020 HOPE Pilot Grant Recipient

Press Releases, What's New

Funded study will examine the role of QSOX1 in the pathogenesis of eosinophil-related diseases

ATLANTA, GA— The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) has awarded a 2020 HOPE Pilot Grant Award for promising research studying eosinophil-associated disease to Praveen Akuthota, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at UC San Diego Health.

Dr. Akuthota will receive $50,000 from APFED over a two-year period. His research project will explore the role of quiescin-sulfhydryl oxidase (QSOX1), which is an enzyme that influences oxidation and inflammation in different disease states.

Based on preliminary data from his lab that supports a role for QSOX1 in the pathogenesis of eosinophil-related diseases, Dr. Akuthota’s team will examine the mechanical properties of QSOX1 and whether interleukin-3 (a protein that induces inflammation) can stimulate QSOX1 release from eosinophils. His team will also measure QSOX1 in human samples from eosinophilic and non-eosinophilic asthma.

This research could identify a novel mechanism in the pathophysiology of eosinophilic asthma and has the potential to uncover a unique biomarker of the disease.

APFED’s HOPE Pilot grants are selected through a competitive peer-reviewed process. Applicants are invited to submit a novel research idea that shows promise and conforms to the APFED mission to improve the lives of those living with eosinophil-associated diseases. These proposals are then reviewed and scored by an ad-hoc panels of expert reviewers, which guides APFED to select the most impactful projects with innovative ideas to fund. Successful grantees demonstrate a plan and the potential to receive subsequent, larger funding for their project.

In addition, APFED is currently accepting applications for a 2021 HOPE Pilot Grant award. This award will provide a total of $50,000 over a 2-year period. Investigators from a variety of disciplines are encouraged to apply. Letters of Intent are due on January 15, 2021, and applications are due on March 1, 2021. For details and to submit an application, visit https://apfed.org/research/grant-application-for-researchers/.

To learn more about APFED’s HOPE on the Horizon Research Program and projects that APFED has funded, please visit apfed.org.

About the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED)

The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to passionately embrace, support, and improve the lives of patients and families affected by eosinophil-associated diseases through education and awareness, research, support, and advocacy. https://apfed.org/

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Lirentelimab Shows Promise as a Future Therapy for EG/EGE/EoD

APFED Blog, Research, What's New

In a publication in the October 22, 2020 issue of New England Journal of Medicine, researchers describe results from a phase 2 trial of AK002 (now assigned the generic medication name lirentelimab) in patients with eosinophilic gastritis (EG) and eosinophilic duodenitis (EoD). These conditions are characterized by high counts of eosinophils and mast cells in the stomach and duodenum. Eosinophilic duodenitis (EoD) is a newer and more specific term for eosinophilic gastroenteritis when the first part of the small bowel, the duodenum, is primarily involved (the stomach may or may not be involved at the same time).

Lirentelimab, currently an infusion therapy (delivered through an IV line), is an antibody that targets a receptor known as Siglec-8 and leads to depletion of eosinophils and inhibition of mast cells. Dr. Dellon at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and Dr. Kathryn Peterson from the University of Utah co-led a team conducting this trial of symptomatic adults with EG, EoD, or both to determine the effectiveness of this potential therapy for these subsets of eosinophilic gastrointestinal disease. The results are promising: Study participants receiving the therapy were shown to have significant decreases of the eosinophil counts in their tissue, as well as substantial symptom improvement compared to those who took placebo.

This study is the first randomized trial for people with EG and EoD, who often struggle with limited, often ineffective treatment options, including corticosteroids, dietary therapy, or a combination of both.

We recently had the opportunity for a brief interview with one of the study’s co-leaders, Dr. Dellon to learn more about this research:

APFED: On average, how long did it take for patients in the trial who were taking AK002 to see relief of symptoms?

Dr. Dellon: In the active treatment arm, symptom improvement compared to placebo was seen as early as 1 week after the initial infusion.  After this, there was a continued and sustained decrease in symptoms through the course of the study.

APFED: Did the drug appear to be well-tolerated overall?

Dr. Dellon: Yes, the drug was tolerated well overall.  The main thing that was noted more commonly in the active treatment arm was infusion reactions, most of which were mild to moderate, and generally occurred with the first infusion.  Efforts are under way to minimize these reactions in the future.  There were no other side effects that were more commonly seen in the active compared to the placebo arms.

APFED: What is the impact of this study for patients and for members of the medical community?

Dr. Dellon: One main impact for patients and the medical community is HOPE!  This is the first randomized trial to ever be performed in a non-EoE EGID, and the results were so promising that the medication has already moved into phase 3 testing, which is required for drug approval.  Another impact is that this study provides the understanding that targeting the Siglec-8 pathway is a good treatment strategy in EG/EoD, and will likely be a good strategy in EoE as well.

A phase-3 study of lirentelimab for EG/EoD is now underway, as well as a phase 2/3 study to evaluate effectiveness of this therapy in eosinophilic esophagitis.

Learn more about clinical trials that are actively enrolling patients, including AK002.

Read related press release from UNC School of Medicine.

References and Resources

Dellon ES, Peterson KA, et. al. “Anti–Siglec-8 Antibody for Eosinophilic Gastritis and Duodenitis”. N Engl J Med 2020; 383:1624-1634, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2012047