TOPLINE:

In patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), the amount of haptoglobin in serum correlated with markers of systemic inflammation, decreased after treatment, and helped predict who would achieve complete control of the disease in 3 months.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study to examine whether serum haptoglobin or zonulin predicted treatment response in patients with CSU.
• The study included 124 participants with CSU (median age, 38 years; 63.7% women) and 57 healthy control individuals (median age, 42 years; 61.4% women).
• They assessed disease activity using the Urticaria Activity Score over 7 days (UAS7) and the Urticaria Control Test at baseline and after 3 months.
• CSU was defined as recurrent hives and itching lasting ≥ 6 weeks with no identifiable external trigger.

TAKEAWAY:

• Patients with CSU had significantly higher serum haptoglobin levels than healthy control individuals (P = .001); however, no significant difference in serum zonulin levels was observed between the groups.
• Serum haptoglobin levels were significantly reduced after treatment (P < .001), particularly in patients who experienced a clinically meaningful improvement of more than 12 points on the UAS7.
• Baseline haptoglobin levels were positively correlated with white blood cell counts, C3 complement levels, and C-reactive protein concentrations.
• In one model, a haptoglobin level ≥ 1249 μg/mL at baseline was an independent predictor of complete urticaria control, defined as a score of 16 on the Urticaria Control Test, 3 months later (adjusted odds ratio, 4.23; P = .029).

IN PRACTICE:

“Our data indicate that the [haptoglobin] level was elevated in CSU patients and fell dramatically in those who achieved complete control after treatment, supporting a role for [haptoglobin] as a marker of both inflammation and disease resolution,” the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

Young‐Min Ye, MD, PhD, with the Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, South Korea, was the corresponding author of the study, which was published online on January 7 in Clinical and Translational Allergy. 

LIMITATIONS:

The single-center nature of the study, small sample size, and heterogeneous treatment regimens may limit generalizability. It is unclear whether haptoglobin serves solely as a marker of systemic inflammation or actively contributes to CSU pathogenesis.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea, funded by the Korean government, and the GRRC program of Gyeonggi Province. The authors declared having no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.