ABSTRACT
It has always been controversial whether a single allergen performs better than multiple allergens in polysensitized patients during the allergen-specific immunotherapy.This study aimed to examine the clinical efficacy of single-allergen sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) versus multi-allergen subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) and to discover the change of the biomarker IL-4 after 1-year immunotherapy in polysensitized children aged 6-13 years with allergic rhinitis (AR) induced by house dust mites (HDMs).The AR polysensitized children (n=78) were randomly divided into two groups:SLIT group and SCIT group.Patients in the SLIT group sublingually received a single HDM extract and those in the SCIT group were subcutaneously given multiple-allergen extracts (HDM in combination with other clinically relevant allergen extracts).Before and 1 year after the allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT),the total nasal symptom scores (TNSS),total medication scores (TMS) and IL-4 levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were compared respectively between the two groups.The results showed that the TNSS were greatly improved,and the TMS and IL-4 levels were significantly decreased after 1-year ASIT in both groups (SLIT group:P＜0.001;SCIT group:P＜0.001).There were no significant differences in any outcome measures between the two groups (for TNSS:P＞0.05;for TMS:P＞0.05;for IL-4 levels:P＞0.05).It was concluded that the clinical efficacy of single-allergen SLIT is comparable with that of multi-allergen SCIT in 6-13-year-old children with HDM-induced AR.
ABSTRACT
This study examined the possible mechanism of sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) in the treatment of allergic asthma.Forty asthma patients allergic to dust mite were enrolled.They received SLIT with dermatophagoides farinae (Der.f) drops for one year.Thirty healthy subjects served as controls.The levels of IL-4 and IFN-γ of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were determined in allergic asthma patients before and after the SLIT as well as the healthy subjects.The results showed that the level of IL-4 was substantially increased and that of IFN-γ remarkably decreased in the patients before the SLIT as compared with those in the healthy subjects (P＜0.05).After the SLIT,the level of IL-4 was significantly reduced and that of IFN-γ elevated in these allergic asthma patients.It was concluded that sublingual immunotherapy is effective for patients with allergic asthma.And it may work by regulating the balance of Th1/Th2 through changing the expression of IL-4 and IFN-γ in PBMCs.