OBJECTIVE: Omalizumab is effective as an add-on drug to treat severe persistent allergic asthma. However, delayed hypersensitivity reactions to omalizumab may deprive patients of its use. Rapid subcutaneous desensitization could be a solution.
METHODS: A 61-year-old man developed a delayed allergy to omalizumab after the first injection. A 14-step desensitization procedure was applied to the patient and was successful.
CONCLUSIONS: Delayed hypersensitivity reactions to omalizumab are rare, but they may cause the interruption of drug usage. Desensitization to omalizumab could be a possible solution.

Contact hypersensitivity (CHS) mouse model induced by 2, 4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) is thought to be a T helper 1 (Th1)-dominant response and used for investigating anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents. However, it is hardly used for screening large-scale drugs because of the large number of animals and complex mechanisms involved in-vivo. In this study, we focused on whether T lymphocytes from CHS mouse model could maintain the state of immune response in-vitro and explored a suitable time for drugs screening. The results showed that CD4(+) T cells of CHS mice were higher compared with those in normal group. The expression of T-bet and GATA3 showed a Th1 shift and the levels of interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-4 also showed similar trend. Furthermore, IL-6 produced by T lymphocytes from CHS mice had a high level too. Then, we detected the effects of dexamethasone (DEX), cyclosporine A (CsA) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) on T lymphocytes in-vitro, and the data displayed that these immunosuppressive drugs could all inhibit the proliferation of T lymphocytes significantly. These findings suggested that T lymphocytes from CHS mice could mimic a similar immune response in-vitro, and it\'s also a suitable method for screening anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agents.