Asthma is an airway disease characterised by chronic
inflammation with intermittent or permanent symptoms including
wheezing,
shortness of breath, chest tightness, and
cough, which vary in terms of their occurrence, frequency, and intensity. The most common associated feature in the airways of patients with
asthma is airway
inflammation. In recent decades, efforts have been made to characterise the heterogeneous clinical nature of
asthma. The interest in improving the definitions of
asthma phenotypes and endotypes is growing, although these classifications do not always correlate with prognosis nor are always appropriate therapeutic approaches. Attempts have been made to identify the most relevant molecular and cellular
biomarkers underlying the immunopathophysiological mechanisms of the disease. For almost 50 years,
immunoglobulin E (
IgE) has been identified as a central factor in allergic
asthma, due to its
allergen-specific nature. Many of the mechanisms of the inflammatory cascade underlying allergic
asthma have already been elucidated, and
IgE has been shown to play a fundamental role in the triggering, development, and chronicity of the inflammatory responses within the disease. Blocking
IgE with
monoclonal antibodies such as
omalizumab have demonstrated their efficacy, effectiveness, and safety in treating allergic
asthma. A better understanding of the multiple contributions of
IgE to the inflammatory continuum of
asthma could contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for the disease.