Allergic rhinitis is a relatively common disorder in the general population. Especially, seasonal allergic rhinitis (Japanese cedar pollinosis) has become a serious social problem between February and April in Japan. The age-adjusted prevalence of Japanese cedar pollinosis in Japan in 2000 was 19.4% by a cross-sectional random sampling method.
Antihistamines, leukotriene modifiers and nasal steroids are now popular therapies for allergic rhinitis. Only antigen-specific immunotherapy has been accepted as an etiologic treatment available to patients with nasal allergy. Studies are ongoing to determine the efficacy of less invasive delivery routes for vaccination, including oral and sublingual vaccination. A surgical approach (submucous turbinectomy and neurectomy of posterior nasal nerve) has been demonstrated to be effective treatment for stuffy nose.
As new strategies for immunotherapy, peptide therapy, anti-IgE antibody (Omalizumab), a human immunoglobulin Feγ-Fcε chimeric protein and an allergen vaccine conjugated with CpG-DNA has have administered to allergic patients in clinical trials. Signal transduction by stimulation in human immunopotential cells has been investigated in terms of for cell-specific response. Ideally, these methods will eventually be replaced by strategies targeting the prevention of allergic responses.