Allergy vaccines: dreams and reality.
Allergy, extrinsic asthma and atopic eczema derive from deregulated immune responses against innocuous antigens. The incidence of atopic diseases is actually affecting approximately 30% of the population in industrialized countries. Although much progress has been achieved in the development of efficient symptomatic treatments for allergic diseases, the only curative treatment remains allergen-specific immunotherapy. In contrast to classical vaccines, which elicit strong host immune responses after one or a few injections, allergen-specific immunotherapy might require a long treatment time of 3-5 years with up to 80 injections to confer some protection. The reality is that 'allergy vaccines' achieve beneficial effects through immunomodulation, which takes a long time to establish. The dream would be to develop highly efficient allergy vaccines able to cure the disease with a few injections.
Crameri
Reto
R
Professor, Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), Head Molecular Allergology Department, Obere Strasse 22, CH-7270 Davos, Switzerland. crameri@siaf.usz.ch
D000818:Animals; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014612:Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D014612:Vaccines