Specific immunotherapy for food allergy: basic principles and clinical aspects.
OBJECTIVE
Food allergy may be life threatening and its management continues to consist of avoiding relevant allergens and, in the case of accidental ingestion, initiation of appropriate emergency therapy. The aim of this article is to describe current treatment approaches and discuss attempts to use specific immunotherapy for food-allergy treatment.


RESULTS
A recent study reports the use of sublingual immunotherapy for hazelnut food allergy in hazelnut-allergic patients. A significant increase in tolerance to hazelnuts after sublingual immunotherapy as assessed by double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge, and good tolerance to this treatment, have been observed.


CONCLUSIONS
The purpose of this review is to highlight the most promising novel approaches for treating food allergy beyond allergen avoidance. Some of these approaches alone, such as traditional Chinese herbal medicine, anti-immunoglobulin E therapy or sublingual immunotherapy for food allergy, or the combination of different approaches, would probably offer the best treatment option for food-allergic patients in the near future.
Enrique
Ernesto
E
Allergy Division, Hospital General de Castellón, Spain. eenriquemiranda@hotmail.com
Cisteró-Bahíma
Anna
A
D000286:Administration, Sublingual; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D031211:Corylus / Q000276:immunology; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000639:trends; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D021184:Nut Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal