Clinical Research Directory

Optimizing the Diagnostic Approach to Cephalosporin Allergy Testing

Cephalosporin antibiotics are commonly used but can result in allergic reactions and anaphylaxis. There is no clear diagnostic approach for cephalosporin-allergic patients, and guidance for the use of other antibiotics in allergic patients is based on side chain chemical similarity and limited skin testing evidence. This project includes a clinical trial and mechanistic studies to optimize the approach to cephalosporin allergy and advance future diagnostics.

Support Tool for Antibiotic Allergy deLabeling

Antibiotic allergy labels (AAL) are reported in 7% of inpatient's charts, especially for beta-lactams (86% of AAL, i.e., prevalence of 6%). They are associated with increased length of hospital stay, and use of second-line and broad-spectrum antibiotics. Allergy workups are able to invalidate the majority of these AAL but are time-consuming and require invasive skin and provocation testing. The investigators recently evaluated, for the first time in Europa, a strictly non-invasive delabeling protocol using a questionnaire, medical file search and contact with primary care health care workers in 200 adult internal medicine inpatients with a beta-lactam AAL. Up to half of the AAL could be removed or refined, demonstrating the potential of this strategy. In this project, they aim to assess the impact of using the non-invasive 'AAL-fact-check' tool in a multicenter study, on antibiotic selection, and clinical, antimicrobial, and economic endpoints, as compared with the standard of care (i.e., no AAL-fact-check tool).

Repertoire and Properties of Anti-drug Antibodies Involved in Immediate Hypersensitivity in the Operating Room

Acute per-anesthetic hypersensitivity reaction (HSA-PA) is a rapidly occurring systemic reaction following injection of a drug during anesthesia (mortality between 3 and 9%). The substances responsible for these reactions in France are curare in 60% of cases, followed by antibiotics. The main mechanism mentioned is an immediate systemic hypersensitivity immune reaction mediated by IgE antibodies (anaphylaxis). NeuroMuscular Blocking Agents (NMBA; curare) relax skeletal muscles to facilitate surgeries and permit intubation, but lead to adverse reactions: (a) severe hypersensitivity reactions (anaphylaxis) thought to rely on pre-existing anti-NMBA antibodies; (b) complications due to postoperative residual curarization. Identification of patients at risk remains suboptimal due to the lack of adequate tools to detect anti-NMBA antibodies. A capturing agent exists for only one out of the four most used NMBAs, allowing reversal of profound curarization. Case reports suggested that it might also ameliorate an ongoing anaphylaxis due to that NMBA. Based on strong preliminary results, our study proposes to characterize anti-drugs antibody repertoires in patients with various NMBA or antibiotics-anaphylaxis, describe activation pathways leading to anaphylaxis, develop and validate diagnostic and therapeutic molecules to ameliorate patient screening, NMBA-anaphylaxis and reverse profound neuromuscular block.