title: Specific immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Allergic rhinitis is a highly prevalent inflammatory disease affecting 20-40% of the children worldwide. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) is an effective treatment for allergic rhinitis. This article reviews the recent advances in SIT for children.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In current clinical practice, immunotherapy is delivered as either subcutaneous immunotherapy or sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT). Most meta-analyses and reviews concluded a trend that subcutaneous immunotherapy was better than SLIT in reducing symptoms of allergic rhinitis and rescue medication use, however, SLIT has a better safety profile than subcutaneous immunotherapy. Additionally, the absence of pain on administration of therapy is a character of SLIT, which is well suited for children. T regulatory cells, especially Tr1 cells that secrete interleukin-10 and induce production of immunoglobulin G4, play a role during SIT.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there is substantial evidence for effectiveness of both subcutaneous immunotherapy and SLIT, safer and more effective SIT approaches are needed. New approaches to improve SIT include omalizumab pretreatment, use of recombinant allergens, and alternate routes of administration.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University bBeijing Key Laboratory of Nasal Diseases, Beijing Institute of Otolaryngology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Chengshuo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Luo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000276:immunology; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000276:immunology; D007167:Immunotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011788:Quality of Life; D065631:Rhinitis, Allergic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy*; D019444:Vaccines, DNA / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D019444:Vaccines, DNA; D007073:Immunoglobulin E