Severe Asthma Exacerbations and Mepolizumab Treatment

This is a hypothesis-generating project to investigate a) infective etiology and b) inflammatory profile of the exacerbations of asthma in severe asthmatic patients treated with the humanized monoclonal antibody against interleukin-5 Mepolizumab. Under these treatment conditions the study will inform on the relationship between these two axes: infection \& innate immunity Vs inflammatory profile changes occurring during exacerbation events. In addition, the study will also explore the effect of Mepolizumab treatment on airway microbial composition and on airway/systemic immune response both at stable state and at the exacerbation.