Mechanisms of allergic inflammation and allergen-specific immunotherapy

Abstract

In recent years, the number of patients with allergic diseases has been increased, mainly in developed countries. In Japan, about half of the population reportedly have some kinds of allergic diseases, such as hay fever and food allergies. Therefore, allergic diseases have become a social and health economic problem. Since many of the therapeutic agents for allergy target mediators involved in the induction of inflammation, treatment using these agents does not eliminate the underlying cause of inflammation, but only be a symptomatic treatment. Allergen-specific immunotherapy, including sublingual immunotherapy, is a treatment that can be expected to modulate human immune responses to specific allergens, and is the only treatment that has the potential to change the natural history of allergic diseases, thereby attracting enormous attention. On the other hand, there are still many issues to be solved regarding the persistence of the effect and the underlying mechanisms. In this presentation, I will talk about the mechanisms of allergic inflammation and allergen-specific immunotherapy, and discuss the future prospects.