Current opinion in allergy and clinical immunology
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There is considerable evidence that implicates eosinophils as important effector cells in the inflammation characteristic of eosinophilic asthma. IL-5 is central to eosinophil maturation and release from the bone marrow, their subsequent accumulation, activation and persistence in the tissues. IL-5 therefore represents an attractive target to prevent or blunt eosinophil-mediated inflammation resulting in the development of humanized anti-IL-5 monoclonal antibody such as mepolizumab. This review is an update of the evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of mepolizumab treatment of patients with asthma. ⋯ Mepolizumab is a potentially important and well tolerated therapy in carefully selected populations of patients with asthma.