Bay Biosciences provides high-quality, fresh frozen biopsy tissue samples. FFPE  tissue blocks with matched fresh, frozen sera (serum), plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) bio-fluids from patients diagnosed with eosinophilic asthma.

The sera (serum), plasma and PBMC biofluid specimens are processed from eosinophilic asthma patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

Biopsy tissue and matched biofluid samples are collected from unique patients diagnosed with eosinophilic asthma and are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research, diagnostics, discovery and drug development.

Sera (serum), plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) biofluids are processed from eosinophilic asthma patients peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

Eosinophilic Asthma (EA) Overview

Eosinophilic  asthma (EA) is a rare sub-type of asthma, which is often severe and usually comes on in adults.

Unlike other kinds of asthma, however, eosinophilic asthma involves abnormally high levels of a particular type of white blood cell called eosinophils.

These cells, called eosinophils, are a natural part of the body’s immune system. They fight infections and attack invading bacteria.

However, in patients with eosinophilic asthma, these white blood cells (eosinophils) cause inflammation and swelling in the airways and the respiratory system.

The higher the levels of eosinophils in the blood, the more severe the symptoms of asthma can be. Affecting the sinuses and nasal passages as well as the lower airways.

Generally, as the level of eosinophils increases, inflammation and other symptoms of asthma become more severe.

EA is not too common and is difficult to treat. It’s not clear how many people have this subtype of asthma, but scientists think that about five percent of all adults with asthma have eosinophilic asthma.

According to the American Lung Association there are 25 million asthma patients in the United States out of which 5-10% patients suffer from severe asthma.

The main treatment for asthma are usually drugs called inhaled corticosteroids, which usually don’t work on eosinophilic asthma patients.

This means that it is difficult to manage the disease and patient’s are most likely to have asthma attacks.

Signs and Symptoms of Eosinophilic Asthma (EA)

Eosinophilic asthma is a subtype of asthma that’s usually severe and often much harder to keep in check. The symptoms can be similar to other types of asthma, but sometimes they have their own twist to them. Patients with eosinophilic asthma often have other health conditions as well.

Following are the common signs and symptoms of eosinophilic asthma:

  • Cough 
  • Chronic sinus infections
  • Dizziness
  • Difficulty doing routine activities
  • Fatigue
  • Eosinophilia, or higher than normal levels of eosinophils in the blood
  • Loss of sense of smell (Anosmia)
  • Nasal drainage 
  • Nasal polyps
  • Obstructed airflow
  • Shortness of breath
  • Stuffy nose
  • Tightness in the chest
  • Wheezing

While these symptoms are the same as other kinds of asthma, they tend to be more constant and severe with eosinophilic asthma.

Patients suffering from eosinophilic asthma are also likely to have more frequent asthma attacks, which tend to be more dangerous.

Causes of Eosinophilic Asthma (EA)

Exact cause of eosinophilic asthma is unknown and has not been identified. While other forms of asthma are triggered by allergic responses or environmental factors, such as pollen or pet hair, eosinophilic asthma does not develop in this way.

High levels of eosinophils can develop when the body is fighting off a parasitic infection, but scientists have not yet determined what causes these levels to spike in cases of eosinophilic asthma.

Asthma can run in families, so researchers are exploring the possibility of a genetic connection. However, no direct genetic link has been found as yet with eosinophilic asthma.

Eosinophils and Eosinophil Count Test

Eosinophils

Eosinophils are white blood cell that helps fight disease. The exact role of eosinophils in your body isn’t clear, but they’re usually linked with allergic diseases and certain infections. They’re made in your bone marrow and then travel to different tissues.

This does two important things in the immune system, curb infections and boost inflammation, which can helps in fighting a disease.

Eosinophilia

Eosinophilia is a condition where you have a higher than normal level of eosinophils. Eosinophils are a type of disease-fighting white blood cell. This condition most often indicates a parasitic infection, an allergic reaction or cancer.

There are two types of eosinophilia, high levels of eosinophils in the blood is called blood eosinophilia or in tissues caused an infection or inflammation (tissue eosinophilia).

Eosinophil Count

If the patients blood tests and the results are not found in the normal range, your doctor may recommend more tests to find out the problem.

If this happens on a test called a white blood cell differential, you may need to get another blood test called an absolute eosinophil count.

Blood eosinophilia may be detected with a blood test, usually as part of a complete blood count. A count of more than 500 eosinophils per microliter of blood is generally considered eosinophilia in adults.

A count of more than 1,500 eosinophils per microliter of blood that lasts for several months is called hyper-eosinophilia.

Reasons for High Eosinophil Count

An eosinophil count can help diagnose a few conditions. You might have a high count due to the following conditions:

  • Asthma
  • Acute hyper-eosinophilic syndrome is rare condition that’s similar to leukemia which can be life-threatening
  • An allergic disorder like asthma or hay fever
  • Autoimmune diseases
  • An infection caused by a parasite or fungus
  • A reaction to certain medications
  • Early stages of Cushing’s disease, a rare condition that can happen if you have too much of a hormone known as cortisol in the blood
  • Eczema (itchy, inflamed skin)
  • Leukemia and other blood disorders

Low Eosinophil Counts

A lower than normal eosinophil count could be because of the following reasons:

  • Having too much alcohol consumption

  • Your body is making too much of certain steroids like cortisol

 

Diagnosis of Eosinophilic Asthma (EA)

A patient who is diagnosed with asthma and does not respond well to treatment, your doctor may suspect you have a less common subtype of asthma.

They’ll likely evaluate your condition and look for additional signs or symptoms that can direct them toward a diagnosis.

In the case of eosinophilic asthma, the easiest step is to check the patients white blood cells levels. For this, a sample of blood, sputum, or saliva and a bronchial biopsy will be collected and sent to a lab for testing.

High levels of eosinophils can confirm the suspected diagnosis of eosinophilic asthma.

The first step in diagnosing eosinophilic asthma is diagnosing severe asthma. The next steps involve evaluating:

  • Chronic blocked airways
  • Chronic sinus disease
  • Limited airflow 
  • Response to systemic steroid medications, such as oral corticosteroids
  • Shortness of breath with exercise
  • Nasal polyps

Scientists have discovered that the symptoms of eosinophilic asthma differ from classic asthma and, in fact, more closely resemble those of chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder (COPD).

Treatment of Eosinophilic Asthma (EA)

Following are some of the available treatments for eosinophilic asthma:

Corticosteroids

Inhaled corticosteroids doesn’t work for every patient, so your doctor may prescribe the pill version. Corticosteroid pills have more side effects and complications than an inhaler.

Fact-Acting Inhalers

Rescue inhalers are commonly prescribed for people with asthma. These can help patients with eosinophilic asthma, but rescue inhalers may lose their efficacy and stop working over time.

Leukotriene Modifiers

Some of the chemicals in your immune system that cause asthma symptoms are called leukotrienes. Eosinophils love to team up with leukotrienes and cause inflammation in your upper and lower airways.

Commonly prescribed medicines called leukotriene modifiers, such as montelukast (Singulair), zafirlukast (Accolate), and zileuton (Zyflo) relieve the effects of leukotrienes and ease asthma symptoms. It’s rare, but some patients get agitated and anxious when taking these meds.

Biologic Therapies

Biologics are made in a lab to act like a human antibody. Unlike inhalers or pills, these drugs are delivered by shots or by IV infusion.

These medications work to block the chemicals in your body that cause inflammation and swelling in the lungs. Some patients could have a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis.

Following are the biologic drugs used to treat eosinophilic asthma:

  • Benralizumab (Fasenra)
  • Dupilumab (Dupixent)
  • Mepolizumab (Nucala)
  • Reslizumab (Cinqair)

Bronchial Thermo-plasty

Unlike the prescription medication, bronchial thermo-plasty is a procedure that’s being studied to treat eosinophilic asthma. Your doctor may recommend it if other methods haven’t controlled your symptoms.

A lung specialist uses a special probe and thermal heat to lessen the smooth muscle in your airways.

This keeps the muscles from constricting during an asthma attack. To get the most benefit, bronchial thermo-plasty may require multiple procedures over several weeks.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens and human bio-fluid collections. 

Samples available are cancer (tumor) tissue, cancer serum, cancer plasma cancer PBMC and human tissue samples from most other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own bio-repository, human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and from normal healthy donors available in all formats and types.

Our biobank procures and stores fully consented, deidentified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples and matched controls.

All our human tissue collections, human specimens and human bio-fluids are provided with detailed samples associated patient’s clinical data.

This critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers and genetic information.

Patient’s data is extremely valuable for researchers and is used to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, other therapeutic areas and diseases. 

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and biological samples including cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

Including fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, FFPE’s, tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood derived products such as serum, plasma and PBMC’s.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the researchers specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

  • Peripheral whole-blood,
  • Amniotic fluid
  • Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BAL)
  • Sputum
  • Pleural effusion
  • Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
  • Serum (sera)
  • Plasma
  • Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC’s)
  • Saliva
  • Buffy coat
  • Urine
  • Stool samples
  • Aqueous humor
  • Vitreous humor
  • Kidney stones (renal calculi)
  • Other bodily fluids from most diseases including cancer.

We can also procure most human bio-specimens and can-do special collections and requests of human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples are procured through IRB approved clinical protocols and procedures. 

In addition to the standard processing protocols Bay Biosciences can also provide human plasma, serum, PBMC bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols, you can buy donor specific sample collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

 Bay Biosciences also provides human samples from normal healthy donors, volunteers, for controls and clinical research, contact us Now.

 

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