title: Safety of a rush immunotherapy build-up schedule with depigmented polymerized allergen extracts.
abstract: Conventional subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) for allergy treatment needs several injections over several weeks to reach the maintenance dose. Shorter up-dosing regimens are desired but limited by the potential of side effects. This study was designed to compare the safety of Depigoid (Laboratorios LETI, Spain)-SCIT 1 day versus 3 weeks up-dosing in patients with Type 1 allergy caused by clinically relevant sensitization against tree pollen, grass pollen, and house-dust mites. A total of 303 patients with confirmed allergic rhinitis/conjunctivitis were included. A rush build-up schedule administering 0.2 mL and then 0.3 mL of the concentrate at day 1 followed by 0.5 mL at day 28 was compared with a conventional 4-week build-up schedule. The number of patients reaching the maintenance phase without systemic reactions or major deviation from treatment schedule were compared. Of the rush 91.8% and in the conventional group 90.9% reached the maintenance phase without dose modification. Neither the proportions of patients with systemic reactions (5.8% rush versus 2% conventional) nor the proportions of patients with local reactions differed significantly between the two regimens (24% rush versus 11% conventional). There was no difference with respect to the applied allergen group. The proposed rush build-up schedule for the immunotherapy treatment with depigmented allergoids without premedication is safe and not inferior to the conventional schedule.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, UKM, Muenster, Germany. r.brehler@uni-muenster.de
authors.forename: Randolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brehler
authors.forename: Ludger
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Klimek
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pfaar
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hauswald
authors.forename: Margitta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Worm
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bieber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D045424:Complex Mixtures / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry; D003231:Conjunctivitis; D005260:Female; D005976:Glutaral / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012221:Rhinitis, Allergic, Perennial / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006255:Rhinitis, Allergic, Seasonal / Q000276:immunology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D045424:Complex Mixtures; D005976:Glutaral