title: Advances in the Treatment of Food Allergy: Sublingual and Epicutaneous Immunotherapy.
abstract: Food allergies continue to increase in prevalence. Standard care is a strict elimination diet, but life-threatening reactions still occur. Allergen immunotherapy has the most potential in treating food allergy. Subcutaneous immunotherapy has not been adopted into food allergy therapy. Oral immunotherapy has a high rate of adverse reactions. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) uses the tolerogenic environment of the oral mucosa and epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT) uses the immune cells of the epidermis to transport antigens to afferent lymph nodes to activate immune responses. SLIT and EPIT can successfully desensitize patients. More research is needed to define optimal doses and administration protocols.
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4399, USA.
authors.forename: Sayantani
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sindher
authors.affiliation: Section of Allergy, Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, 13123 East 16th Avenue, B518, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Fleischer
authors.affiliation: Division of Allergy and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, 34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4399, USA. Electronic address: spergel@email.chop.edu.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Spergel
mesh_terms: D000286:Administration, Sublingual; D000818:Animals; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic / Q000639:trends; D054796:Drug Dosage Calculations; D005512:Food Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007108:Immune Tolerance; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous
keywords: Allergen immunotherapy (AIT); Desensitization; Epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT); Food allergy; Oral tolerance; Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT); Sustained unresponsiveness