Abstract
Subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT) is an only curative treatment for allergic rhinitis caused by Japanese cedar pollen (JCP), but it involves problems such as frequent medical visits, pain from injections, and the potential for severe side effects, such as anaphylaxis. Therefore, a new allergen-specific immunotherapy that is less invasive, more convenient and safer than SCIT is needed. In the present study, we examined the safety and efficiency of a new oral immunotherapy (OIT) for treating JCP allergy using the Cry j 1-galactomannan conjugate, which was found to be more convenient than SCIT. We found that only one in five patients had malaise as a treatment-related adverse event, and that the nasal symptom score, nasal severity score, VAS, and medication score of the OIT group were all significantly lower than those of patients who received drug therapy without OIT. Although this study was a small-scale and pilot study, these results suggest that OIT with the Cry j 1-galactomannan conjugate for JCP allergy is safe, efficient and convenient, allowing for short-term desensitization, and may be a potent novel treatment for JCP allergy.
