An update on immunotherapy for food allergy.
OBJECTIVE
Recent investigation has resulted in significant advances toward definitive therapeutic options for food allergy. In this review, we will explore novel immunotherapeutic interventions for the active treatment of food allergy.


RESULTS
Because the injection route for allergen immunotherapy to foods has been associated with an unacceptable risk of severe anaphylactic reactions, use of mucosally targeted therapeutic strategies is of significant interest for food allergy. Allergen-specific immunotherapeutic approaches such as oral, sublingual, epicutaneous, and peptide immunotherapy have demonstrated efficacy in increasing threshold dose and inducing immunologic changes associated with both desensitization and oral tolerance in animal and human trials. More global immunomodulatory strategies, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and anti-IgE therapy have been shown to effectively target the allergic response, and clinical trials are ongoing to determine the efficacy and safety in human food allergy.


CONCLUSIONS
The advent of therapies that target the mucosal immune response to promote oral tolerance have shown great promise in the treatment of food hypersensitivity. However, there is still significant risk of adverse reactions associated with these therapeutic strategies and further study is needed to carefully advance these therapeutic modalities toward general clinical implementation.
Scurlock
Amy M
AM
Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, Arkansas Children's Hospital, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.
Jones
Stacie M
SM
D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D005502:Food / Q000009:adverse effects; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000187:drug effects; D018928:Immunity, Mucosal / Q000187:drug effects; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D018570:Risk Assessment
D000485:Allergens; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal