As standard drug treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR) is not completely satisfactory, allergen immunotherapy (AIT) represents the only current treatment with the potential to modify the natural history. House dust mite (HDM) allergy is very common. The aim of the current experience was to describe the clinical profile of HDM-allergic patients with AR who received AIT in a real world model, such ...

BACKGROUND Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) in its two forms of subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is an effective treatment of respiratory allergy, but is particularly concerned by the issue of compliance. OBJECTIVE We aimed a real-life study at evaluating the compliance to SLIT and to SCIT administered by a short-course of four injections during a 3-year perio...

BACKGROUND Many placebo-controlled studies have demonstrated that allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is an effective therapy for treating allergies. Both commonly used routes, subcutaneous (SCIT) and sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), require high patient adherence to be successful. In the literature, numbers describing adherence vary widely; this investigation compares these two routes of therapy dire...

In its century-long history, allergen immunotherapy (AIT), has shown continuous evolution in terms of the materials and the treatment schedules used, the adequate duration, and the mechanisms of action underlying its clinical efficacy. The passage from the empirical phase of AIT to the era of evidence-based medicine (EBM) was associated with achievement of the highest levels of evidence. This r...

Allergic fungal sinusitis (AFS), also referred to as allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS), is a noninvasive, eosinophilic form of recurrent chronic allergic hypertrophic rhinosinusitis. AFS has distinct clinical, histopathological, and prognostic findings that differentiate it from other forms of sinusitis. The core pathogenesis and optimum treatment strategies remain debated. Concerns surroun...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Asthma is a disease causing significant morbidity and mortality. In the recent past, there has been an explosion of pharmacotherapeutic options attempting to control the disease. Unfortunately, none of the current options offers the promise of prevention or a permanent cure. However, there appear to be exciting, new data emerging to support the hypothesis that the prevention o...

Specific immunotherapy (SIT) is a common treatment for allergic diseases. Despite its usage in clinical practice for nearly a century, more-rational and safer allergen preparations are required. Here, the underlying mechanisms and principles of allergen modification for the future use of SIT in the treatment of allergy are discussed.

Background Allergen adsorption onto alum is relevant for safety and immunogenicity of alum-adjuvanted allergen vaccines, used for subcutaneous immunotherapy. Adsorption of the Group 1 Mite allergens can be impaired by phosphate buffers. On the other hand, diminishing or abolishing buffer salts can affect long term stability. Alum content can also influence immunogenicity and adsorption, as well...

The initial dose should be administered under the supervision of a physician because anaphylaxis and laryngopharyngeal edema have occurred in rare cases.1 The manufacturer suggests that timothy grass pollen allergen extract be avoided in patients taking beta blockers, alpha blockers, ergot alkaloids, tricyclic antidepressants, levothyroxine, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, chlorpheniramine, diphe...

IgG4 purified from patients undergoing specific allergen immunotherapy inhibits the activities of the serum IgE in in vitro assays and is thought to reduce the symptoms of the disease. However, it is not known whether this is related to an intrinsic property of this subclass or only the allergen specificity. We tested the hypothesis that allergen specificity is the critical determinant for this...