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Unique Effect of Aspirin Therapy on Biomarkers in Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease: A Prospective Trial

In a study conducted here at Brigham and Women’s, researcher Cahill et al. sought to explore the longitudinal changes in biomarkers of patient’s with AERD who take high-dose aspirin therapy. A total of 57 patients were enrolled, 42 with AERD and 15 with aspirin-tolerant asthma (ATAs). Participants with AERD were desensitized to aspirin and placed on high-dose aspirin treatment (1300 mg daily), and the control population of ATAs were given the same dose of aspirin. After 8 weeks, samples of blood and urine were collected and analyzed for known markers of Type 2 inflammation. Surprisingly, the patients with AERD showed an increase in several markers of inflammation after 8 weeks on aspirin therapy, despite reporting a decrease in nasal symptoms. The increase was not seen in patients with aspirin-tolerant asthma, suggesting that the effects of high-dose aspirin on patients with AERD may be unique to the disease.

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