title: Immunotherapy in pollen and mould asthma.
abstract: Fifteen double-blind placebo-controlled studies in pollen and mould asthma have been carried out, the majority with grass pollen immunotherapy. Despite certain methodological limitations, the clinical efficacy was demonstrated in all studies performed. A decrease in specific immediate skin reactivity is relatively common during pollen and mould immunotherapy. In several studies the efficacy of immunotherapy was further indicated by the change in some functional parameters of the airways that sometimes seem to be related to the clinical results. At the moment available data do not indicate that IgG subclasses are useful in predicting the clinical outcome of immunotherapy. Currently the only methods which truly reflect the efficacy of immunotherapy are clinical evaluations. The effectiveness of this treatment is influenced by the quality of allergens used for immunotherapy and better results will probably be achieved in the future after further allergen purification and standardization.
authors.affiliation: Servizio di Allergologia Respiratoria, Ospedale Umberto I, Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bonifazi
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens; D000528:Alternaria; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D016535:Bronchial Hyperreactivity / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D002963:Cladosporium; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D008172:Lung Diseases, Fungal / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D011058:Pollen; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D007073:Immunoglobulin E