Importance Food allergy is common, affecting up to 8% to 10% of children and adults. Treatment options include oral immunotherapy (OIT) and omalizumab, an anti–immunoglobulin E (IgE) monoclonal antibody. Objective To compare omalizumab with OIT for the treatment of patients with multifood allergy. Design, Setting, and Participants This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial comparing omalizumab with omalizumab-facilitated multiallergen OIT (MOIT) in participants who completed stage 1 of the Omalizumab as Monotherapy and as Adjunct Therapy to Multiallergen OIT in Children and Adults With Food Allergy (OUTMATCH) trial, which led to the approval of omalizumab. The setting comprised 10 academic centers across the US. Included in this analysis were individuals aged 1 to 55 years with an allergy to peanuts and at least 2 other foods (milk, eggs, wheat, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts). Eligibility was based on oral food challenge thresholds, requiring dose-limiting symptoms to cumulative doses of 144 mg or less of protein for peanuts and 444 mg or less for nonpeanut allergens. Data were analyzed from October 2024 to February 2026. Interventions Participants were randomized to receive MOIT with placebo omalizumab or omalizumab with placebo MOIT. All received 16 weeks of open-label omalizumab; at week 8, active or placebo MOIT was initiated and escalated to goal doses of 1000 mg per food. At week 16, participants transitioned to blinded omalizumab or placebo injections for 44 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary end point was cumulative tolerated dose (CTD) of 4044 mg or greater for all 3 foods. Predefined secondary end points included CTDs of 1044, 2044, 4044, 6044, or 8044 mg for 1, 2, or all 3 foods. Results A total of 117 participants (median [IQR] age, 7 [1-29] years; 64 male [55%]) were randomized to receive active MOIT (n = 58) or active omalizumab (n = 59). A total of 30 participants (51%) receiving active MOIT and 51 (88%) receiving active omalizumab completed the study. In the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, omalizumab was superior to MOIT (21 of 58 [36%] vs 11 of 59 [19%]; odds ratio, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.1-6.3; P = .03), with no differences in per-protocol analyses. Omalizumab superiority for CTDs of 4044 mg or greater was also demonstrated for 2 or more foods and for several individual foods. More participants taking active MOIT experienced adverse events (serious adverse events in 18 of 59 [31%] vs 0%; events leading to discontinuation in 13 of 59 [22%] vs 0%; events treated with epinephrine (22 of 59 [37%] vs 4 of 58 [7%]). Conclusions and Relevance Although the ITT analysis found a higher rate of treatment success in those receiving omalizumab compared with MOIT, results suggest that the difference was largely driven by the high rate of study discontinuation in the participants treated with MOIT, mostly related to adverse events.

BACKGROUND:Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) offers non-invasive assessments of neuron-oligodendrocyte coupling and neuroinflammation to monitor treatment response in multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVE:To track changes in N-acetylaspartate and myo-inositol in relapsing MS (RMS) and primary progressive MS (PPMS) patients treated with ocrelizumab over 2 years. METHODS:Single-voxel MRS at 3T was acquired at baseline in 10 healthy controls (HCs), and weeks 0, 12, 24, 52, and 96 in MS participants at a single center. RESULTS:Baseline myo-inositol was higher in PPMS than RMS (p = 0.047) and HC (p = 0.001), and correlated with disability across both MS groups (r = 0.57, p = 0.0006). Following treatment with ocrelizumab, both RMS and PPMS demonstrated declines in myo-inositol over time, returning toward HC levels (RMS p = 0.016; PPMS p = 0.004). Conversely, N-acetylaspartate was not different between groups and remained stable over time. CONCLUSION:Ocrelizumab treatment is associated with declining myo-inositol levels measured by MRS in both RMS and PPMS. Myo-inositol offers a unique biomarker to track resolution of gliosis and reactive microglia with treatment. Furthermore, the relationship between a higher concentration of myo-inositol and greater disability across both MS subtypes at baseline supports the presence of "smouldering inflammation" as a disease process across the spectrum of MS. CLINICAL TRIAL:Sub-study of the Ocrelizumab Biomarker Outcome Evaluation (OBOE; ML29966) trial: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02688985.

Importance:Food allergy is common, affecting up to 8% to 10% of children and adults. Treatment options include oral immunotherapy (OIT) and omalizumab, an anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) monoclonal antibody. Objective:To compare omalizumab with OIT for the treatment of patients with multifood allergy. Design, Setting, and Participants:This was a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial comparing omalizumab with omalizumab-facilitated multiallergen OIT (MOIT) in participants who completed stage 1 of the Omalizumab as Monotherapy and as Adjunct Therapy to Multiallergen OIT in Children and Adults With Food Allergy (OUTMATCH) trial, which led to the approval of omalizumab. The setting comprised 10 academic centers across the US. Included in this analysis were individuals aged 1 to 55 years with an allergy to peanuts and at least 2 other foods (milk, eggs, wheat, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts). Eligibility was based on oral food challenge thresholds, requiring dose-limiting symptoms to cumulative doses of 144 mg or less of protein for peanuts and 444 mg or less for nonpeanut allergens. Data were analyzed from October 2024 to February 2026. Interventions:Participants were randomized to receive MOIT with placebo omalizumab or omalizumab with placebo MOIT. All received 16 weeks of open-label omalizumab; at week 8, active or placebo MOIT was initiated and escalated to goal doses of 1000 mg per food. At week 16, participants transitioned to blinded omalizumab or placebo injections for 44 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures:The primary end point was cumulative tolerated dose (CTD) of 4044 mg or greater for all 3 foods. Predefined secondary end points included CTDs of 1044, 2044, 4044, 6044, or 8044 mg for 1, 2, or all 3 foods. Results:A total of 117 participants (median [IQR] age, 7 [1-29] years; 64 male [55%]) were randomized to receive active MOIT (n = 58) or active omalizumab (n = 59). A total of 30 participants (51%) receiving active MOIT and 51 (88%) receiving active omalizumab completed the study. In the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis, omalizumab was superior to MOIT (21 of 58 [36%] vs 11 of 59 [19%]; odds ratio, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.1-6.3; P = .03), with no differences in per-protocol analyses. Omalizumab superiority for CTDs of 4044 mg or greater was also demonstrated for 2 or more foods and for several individual foods. More participants taking active MOIT experienced adverse events (serious adverse events in 18 of 59 [31%] vs 0%; events leading to discontinuation in 13 of 59 [22%] vs 0%; events treated with epinephrine (22 of 59 [37%] vs 4 of 58 [7%]). Conclusions and Relevance:Although the ITT analysis found a higher rate of treatment success in those receiving omalizumab compared with MOIT, results suggest that the difference was largely driven by the high rate of study discontinuation in the participants treated with MOIT, mostly related to adverse events.

Importance:Biomarkers distinguishing nonrelapsing progressive disease biology from relapsing biology in multiple sclerosis (MS) are lacking. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is an accessible fluid that most closely reflects central nervous system biology. Objective:To identify CSF biological measures associated with progressive MS pathobiology. Design, Setting, and Participants:This cohort study assessed data from 2 prospective MS cohorts: a test cohort provided serial CSF, clinical, and imaging assessments in a multicenter study of patients with relapsing MS (RMS) or primary progressive MS (PPMS) who were initiating anti-CD20 treatment (recruitment: 2016-2018; analysis: 2020-2023). A single-site confirmation cohort was used to assess CSF at baseline and long-term (>10 year) clinical follow-up (analysis: 2022-2023). Exposures:Test-cohort participants initiated standard-of-care ocrelizumab treatment. Confirmation-cohort participants were untreated or received standard-of-care disease-modifying MS therapies. Main Outcomes and Measures:Twenty-five CSF markers, including neurofilament light chain, neurofilament heavy chain, and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP); 24-week confirmed disability progression (CDP24); and brain magnetic resonance imaging measures reflecting focal injury, tissue loss, and progressive biology (slowly expanding lesions [SELs]). Results:The test cohort (n = 131) included 100 patients with RMS (mean [SD] age, 36.6 [10.4] years; 68 [68%] female and 32 [32%] male; Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score, 0-5.5), and 31 patients with PPMS (mean [SD] age, 44.9 [7.4] years; 15 [48%] female and 16 [52%] male; EDSS score, 3.0-6.5). The confirmation cohort (n = 68) included 41 patients with RMS and 27 with PPMS enrolled at diagnosis (age, 40 years [range, 20-61 years]; 47 [69%] female and 21 [31%] male). In the test cohort, GFAP was correlated with SEL count (r = 0.33), greater proportion of T2 lesion volume from SELs (r = 0.24), and lower T1-weighted intensity within SELs (r = -0.33) but not with acute inflammatory measures. Neurofilament heavy chain was correlated with SEL count (r = 0.25) and lower T1-weighted intensity within SELs (r = -0.28). Immune markers correlated with measures of acute inflammation and, unlike GFAP, were impacted by anti-CD20. In the confirmation cohort, higher baseline CSF GFAP levels were associated with long-term CDP24 (hazard ratio, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.3-3.4; P = .002). Conclusions and Relevance:In this study, activated glial markers (in particular GFAP) and neurofilament heavy chain were associated specifically with nonrelapsing progressive disease outcomes (independent of acute inflammatory activity). Elevated CSF GFAP was associated with long-term MS disease progression.

Background: The intrinsic link between food allergy and asthma is well-established, and comorbidity can exacerbate both conditions. Omalizumab, an anti-immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody, has the biological plausibility to manage both conditions, but only a few small studies have assessed omalizumab in patients with comorbid asthma and food allergy. Patients and Methods: We conducted a post hoc analysis of placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trials (IA05 in children and 008/009 in adolescents/adults) and real-world observational studies (EXCELS and PROSPERO). For each study, patients with asthma were stratified by whether they had physician-reported food allergy, as per baseline characteristics data. Results: For patients with comorbid food allergy, there was evidence for increased atopy at baseline (numerically higher total IgE levels and atopic comorbidities). The collective body of evidence found that omalizumab consistently improved general and asthma-specific patient-centered outcomes (food allergy-specific outcomes were not available). For patients with asthma, omalizumab improved healthcare resource use (emergency room visits, hospitalizations, unscheduled doctor visits), quality of life (asthma-specific Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire), productivity (missed work/school days and the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment: Asthma), and asthma outcomes (asthma exacerbations and Asthma Control Test score) regardless of comorbid food allergy. Conclusion: There was no loss of omalizumab efficacy even though patients with both asthma and food allergy appeared to be generally more atopic. Omalizumab may be a viable management option for patients with these comorbidities.

Omalizumab is effective for the treatment of moderate-to-severe allergic asthma. However, the impact of comorbid food allergies (FA) on work productivity/activity impairment and healthcare resource use (HRU) in patients treated with omalizumab is unclear.

A small proportion of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients develop new disease activity soon after starting anti-CD20 therapy. This activity does not recur with further dosing, possibly reflecting deeper depletion of CD20-expressing cells with repeat infusions. We assessed cellular immune profiles and their association with transient disease activity following anti-CD20 initiation as a window into relapsing disease biology. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from independent discovery and validation cohorts of MS patients initiating ocrelizumab were assessed for phenotypic and functional profiles using multiparametric flow cytometry. Pretreatment CD20-expressing T cells, especially CD20 dim CD8 + T cells with a highly inflammatory and central nervous system (CNS)-homing phenotype, were significantly inversely correlated with pretreatment MRI gadolinium-lesion counts, and also predictive of early disease activity observed after anti-CD20 initiation. Direct removal of pretreatment proinflammatory CD20 dim CD8 + T cells had a greater contribution to treatment-associated changes in the CD8 + T cell pool than was the case for CD4 + T cells. Early disease activity following anti-CD20 initiation was not associated with reconstituting CD20 dim CD8 + T cells, which were less proinflammatory compared with pretreatment. Similarly, this disease activity did not correlate with early reconstituting B cells, which were predominantly transitional CD19 + CD24 high CD38 high with a more anti-inflammatory profile. We provide insights into the mode-of-action of anti-CD20 and highlight a potential role for CD20 dim CD8 + T cells in MS relapse biology; their strong inverse correlation with both pretreatment and early posttreatment disease activity suggests that CD20-expressing CD8 + T cells leaving the circulation (possibly to the CNS) play a particularly early role in the immune cascades involved in relapse development.

Objective: To assess the utility of plasma neurofilament light chain (pNfL) as a biomarker of neurodegenerative diseases using a fixed threshold for screening in clinical practice. Background: Elevated pNfL is a marker of neuroaxonal injury in neurodegenerative diseases. However, no threshold has been established for clinically meaningful pNfL elevations for use as a routine screening tool in primary care settings. Design/Methods: For this post hoc analysis, baseline pNfL levels were analyzed from Phase III studies of patients with Stage I or II Huntington's disease (HD; NCT03664804; n=89), prodromal to mild Alzheimer's disease (AD; NCT03114657; n=1124), early Parkinson's disease (PD; NCT03100149; n=270) and a cohort of healthy controls (HC; n=690) using the Elecsys platform, and among patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS; NCT01194570; n=498) and an HC cohort (n=117) using the Quanterix pNfL Advantage kit. Median ± IQR unadjusted pNfL levels were calculated, and differences from median HC levels were determined for disease cohorts. Results: In patients with HD, pNfL levels were elevated 12.9-fold over the HC median level. pNfL levels were elevated to a lesser extent in patients with AD (1.5-fold) and were slightly lower than HCs among patients with early PD (0.9-fold). Among patients with PPMS, pNfL levels were elevated 1.8-fold over the HC median. For all disease cohorts except HD, pNfL IQRs overlapped with those of HCs. Conclusions: Elevated pNfL levels vs HCs were observed among HD, AD, and PPMS cohorts but not in early PD, consistent with previous reports. However, no clinically meaningful threshold using a fixed cutoff for pNfL elevation across neurodegenerative diseases could be established. The findings from this study, the first to evaluate pNfL levels from clinical trials across multiple neurological diseases, support further investigation of the clinical utility of pNfL as a neurological screen in primary care. Disclosure: Dr. Cameron has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Genentech. Dr. Cameron has stock in Genentech. Dr. Patel has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Genentech. An immediate family member of Dr. Patel has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Google. Dr. Patel has stock in Genentech Inc.. An immediate family member of Dr. Patel has stock in Google. Dr. Cobb has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Genentech. Dr. Cobb has stock in Roche. Dr. Cobb has received intellectual property interests from a discovery or technology relating to health care. Ivonne Suridjan has nothing to disclose. Nikki Win has received personal compensation for serving as an employee of Genentech. Nikki Win has stock in Genentech .

A key challenge in the study of rare disease genetics is assembling large case cohorts for well-powered studies. We demonstrate the use of self-reported diagnosis data to study rare diseases at scale. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for 33 rare diseases using self-reported diagnosis phenotypes and re-discovered 29 known associations to validate our approach. In addition, we performed the first GWAS for Duane retraction syndrome, vestibular schwannoma and spontaneous pneumothorax, and report novel genome-wide significant associations for these diseases. We replicated these novel associations in non-European populations within the 23andMe, Inc. cohort as well as in the UK Biobank cohort. We also show that mixed model analyses including all ethnicities and related samples increase the power for finding associations in rare diseases. Our results, based on analysis of 19,084 rare disease cases for 33 diseases from 7 populations, show that large-scale online collection of self-reported data is a viable method for discovery and replication of genetic associations for rare diseases. This approach, which is complementary to sequencing-based approaches, will enable the discovery of more novel genetic associations for increasingly rare diseases across multiple ancestries and shed more light on the genetic architecture of rare diseases.

AbstractObjective:To characterise dietary habits, their temporal and spatial patterns and associations with BMI in the 23andMe study population.Design:We present a large-scale cross-sectional analysis of self-reported dietary intake data derived from the web-based National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009–2010 dietary screener. Survey-weighted estimates for each food item were characterised by age, sex, race/ethnicity, education and BMI. Temporal patterns were plotted over a 2-year time period, and average consumption for select food items was mapped by state. Finally, dietary intake variables were tested for association with BMI.Setting:US-based adults 20–85 years of age participating in the 23andMe research programme.Participants:Participants were 23andMe customers who consented to participate in research (n 526 774) and completed web-based surveys on demographic and dietary habits.Results:Survey-weighted estimates show very few participants met federal recommendations for fruit: 2·6 %, vegetables: 5·9 % and dairy intake: 2·8 %. Between 2017 and 2019, fruit, vegetables and milk intake frequency declined, while total dairy remained stable and added sugars increased. Seasonal patterns in reporting were most pronounced for ice cream, chocolate, fruits and vegetables. Dietary habits varied across the USA, with higher intake of sugar and energy dense foods characterising areas with higher average BMI. In multivariate-adjusted models, BMI was directly associated with the intake of processed meat, red meat, dairy and inversely associated with consumption of fruit, vegetables and whole grains.Conclusions:23andMe research participants have created an opportunity for rapid, large-scale, real-time nutritional data collection, informing demographic, seasonal and spatial patterns with broad geographical coverage across the USA.

While the traditional clinical trial design lays emphasis on testing the treatment effect between randomly assigned groups, it ignores the role of patient preference for a particular treatment in the trial. Yet, for healthcare providers who seek to optimize the patient-centered treatment strategy, the evaluation of a patient's psychology toward each treatment could be a key consideration. The two-stage randomized trial design allows researchers to test patient's preference and selection effects, in addition to the treatment effect. The current methodology for the two-stage design is limited to continuous and binary outcomes; this article extends the model to include count outcomes. The test statistics for preference, selection, and treatment effects are derived. Closed-form sample size formulae are presented for each effect. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the properties of the unstratified and stratified designs. Finally, we apply methods to the use of antimicrobials at the end of life to demonstrate the applicability of the methods.