Preventive capacity of subcutaneous immunotherapy.
OBJECTIVE
The scope of this review is to highlight important and interesting articles about the preventive aspects and capacity of allergen-specific subcutaneous injection immunotherapy.


RESULTS
There is increasing amount of data that immunotherapy may have a preventive effect in carefully selected patients, both in the development of asthma in patients with allergic rhinitis and in the development of new immunoglobulin E-mediated sensitizations.


CONCLUSIONS
The preventive capacity of subcutaneous immunotherapy in suppression of the development of new immunoglobulin E sensitizations and the progression of the allergic disease into a more severe form are interesting topics in the field of allergen-specific immunotherapy. Allergen-specific immunotherapy, the subcutaneous administration of increasing doses of allergen extracts, is the only specific and curative approach towards the treatment of immunoglobulin E-mediated allergy. Immunotherapy affects the natural course of allergic disease, and induces prolonged clinical remission when the treatment is continued for several years, which has raised the question of whether it should be considered earlier in the management of allergic diseases. There is an urgent need for large controlled multi-center studies to show the preventive aspects in different patient populations.
Valovirta
Erkka
E
Turku Allergy Center, Turku, Finland. erkka.valovirta@allergiakeskus.net
D001249:Asthma / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous; D008297:Male; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000379:methods; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D007073:Immunoglobulin E