 |
|
Sublingual immunotherapy for inhalant allergies deserves deeper consideration
April 30, 2009Invited article urges wider adoption of under-the-tongue treatment for allergies
Alexandria, VA - Sublingual immunotherapy for the treatment of allergy symptoms caused by a wide variety of environmental inhalants has been effectively used in Europe. It should be employed to further treatment of allergies in the United States, where allergic symptoms are largely undertreated, according to an invited article in the April 2009 issue of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. A response to the article, published in the same journal issue, expresses cautious optimism, but calls for additional research.
Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) involves the administering of an allergen solution under the tongue, which in time reduces the patient's sensitivity to those allergens. The more prevalent alternative is subcutaneous immunotherapy, usually administered through an injection.
The authors of the invited article note that despite allergic symptoms contributing heavily to poor quality of life, high socioeconomic costs, and increased health issues, these syndromes remain underdiagnosed and undertreated. The authors attribute this to a public attitude that trivializes allergic conditions, along with patients' general dissatisfaction with the conventional pharmacy-based ways of treating allergic conditions. They conclude that the extensive implementation of SLIT treatment in Europe has proven to overcome these shortcomings in reaching patients, and the treatment is supported with significant literature documenting its efficacy, along with extensive clinical experience.
In a response to the invited article, AAO-HNSF Board of Directors member John H. Krouse, MD, PhD, recognizes the promising data associated with SLIT treatment, but urges caution until several issues can be addressed. Specifically, Dr. Krouse offers five areas of concern with SLIT treatment: patient selection; pattern of sensitization; dosing, preparation, and delivery; safety; and the financial cost of therapy. He concludes by noting the existence of a gap in allergy management in the United States, and the promise SLIT treatment holds, if carefully evaluated, in reaching these unaddressed segments of the population.
Allergy symptoms appear when the immune system reacts to an allergic substance that enters the body as though it is an unwelcomed invader. The immune system will produce special antibodies capable of recognizing the same allergen if it enters the body at a later time.
When an allergen reenters the body, the immune system rapidly recognizes it, causing a series of reactions. These reactions often involve tissue destruction, blood vessel dilation, and production of many inflammatory substances, including histamine. Histamine produces common allergy symptoms such as itchy, watery eyes, nasal and sinus congestion, headaches, sneezing, scratchy throat, hives, and shortness of breath, among others. Other less common symptoms are balance disturbances, skin irritations such as eczema, and even respiratory problems like asthma.
American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery
The authors of the invited article note that despite allergic symptoms contributing heavily to poor quality of life, high socioeconomic costs, and increased health issues, these syndromes remain underdiagnosed and undertreated. The authors attribute this to a public attitude that trivializes allergic conditions, along with patients' general dissatisfaction with the conventional pharmacy-based ways of treating allergic conditions. They conclude that the extensive implementation of SLIT treatment in Europe has proven to overcome these shortcomings in reaching patients, and the treatment is supported with significant literature documenting its efficacy, along with extensive clinical experience.
In a response to the invited article, AAO-HNSF Board of Directors member John H. Krouse, MD, PhD, recognizes the promising data associated with SLIT treatment, but urges caution until several issues can be addressed. Specifically, Dr. Krouse offers five areas of concern with SLIT treatment: patient selection; pattern of sensitization; dosing, preparation, and delivery; safety; and the financial cost of therapy. He concludes by noting the existence of a gap in allergy management in the United States, and the promise SLIT treatment holds, if carefully evaluated, in reaching these unaddressed segments of the population.
Allergy symptoms appear when the immune system reacts to an allergic substance that enters the body as though it is an unwelcomed invader. The immune system will produce special antibodies capable of recognizing the same allergen if it enters the body at a later time.
When an allergen reenters the body, the immune system rapidly recognizes it, causing a series of reactions. These reactions often involve tissue destruction, blood vessel dilation, and production of many inflammatory substances, including histamine. Histamine produces common allergy symptoms such as itchy, watery eyes, nasal and sinus congestion, headaches, sneezing, scratchy throat, hives, and shortness of breath, among others. Other less common symptoms are balance disturbances, skin irritations such as eczema, and even respiratory problems like asthma.
American Academy of Otolaryngology -- Head and Neck Surgery
Immunotherapy Current Events and Immunotherapy News RSSImmunotherapy demonstrates long-term success in treating lymphoma
Targeted immunotherapy has been an attractive new therapeutic area for a number of cancers because it has the potential to destroy tumor cells without damaging surrounding normal tissue. New study results demonstrate high success rates using specialized white blood cells to prevent or treat lymphoma associated with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-lymphoma) in patients who have received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT).
Alzheimer's lesions found in the retina
The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but new research indicates they also may mirror a brain ravaged by Alzheimer's disease.
Elderly immune system needs a boost
Elderly cancer patients need a combination of treatments tailor-made to their specific needs to successfully combat the disease.
Oleocanthal may help prevent, treat Alzheimer's
Oleocanthal, a naturally-occurring compound found in extra-virgin olive oil, alters the structure of neurotoxic proteins believed to contribute to the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease. This structural change impedes the proteins' ability to damage brain nerve cells.
University Hospitals Case Medical Center to test gammaglobulin treatment for Alzheimer's disease
Researchers from the Memory and Cognition Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center will begin testing an intriguing new approach to slowing down the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) using Intravenous Immune Globulin (IGIV), also known as gammaglobulin.
Mounting a multi-layered attack on fungal infections
Unravelling a microbe's multilayer defence mechanisms could lead to effective new treatments for potentially lethal fungal infections in cancer patients and others whose natural immunity is weakened.
Phase 3 Alzheimer's drug increases toxic beta amyloid in the brain -- but still provides benefits
New insights into how a Phase III Alzheimer's drug might work were among the advances in potential therapies targeting two abnormal brain proteins - beta amyloid and phosphorylated tau - that were reported today at the Alzheimer's Association 2009 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD 2009) in Vienna.
Researchers testing virus-gene therapy combination against melanoma
Researchers at the Moores UCSD Cancer Center are injecting a modified herpes virus into melanoma tumors, hoping to kill the cancer cells while also bolstering the body's immune defenses against the disease.
Vaccine shows therapeutic promise against advanced melanoma
A vaccine for one of the most lethal cancers, advanced melanoma, has shown improved response rates and progression-free survival for patients when combined with the immunotherapy drug, Interleukin-2.
New therapy enlists immune system to boost cure rate in a childhood cancer
A multicenter research team has announced encouraging results for an experimental therapy using elements of the body's immune system to improve cure rates for children with neuroblastoma, a challenging cancer of the nervous system.
More Immunotherapy Current Events and Immunotherapy News Articles
 |
Cancer Immunotherapy: Immune Suppression and Tumor Growth by George C. Prendergast (Editor), Elizabeth M. Jaffee (Editor) There has been major growth in understanding immune suppression mechanisms and its relationship to cancer progression and therapy. This book highlights emerging new principles of immune suppression that drive cancer and it offers radically new ideas about how therapy can be improved by attacking these principles. Following work that firmly establishes immune escape as an essential trait of cancer, recent studies have now defined specific mechanisms of tumoral immune suppression. It also demonstrates how attacking tumors with molecular targeted therapeutics or traditional chemotherapeutic drugs can produce potent anti-tumor effects in preclinical models. This book provides basic, translational, and clinical cancer researchers an indispensable overview of immune escape as a critical trait... |
 |
Recombinant Antibodies for Immunotherapy by Melvyn Little PhD (Editor) Recombinant Antibodies for Immunotherapy provides a comprehensive overview of the field of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), a market that has grown tremendously in recent years. Twenty-five articles by experienced and innovative authors cover the isolation of specific human mAbs, humanization, immunogenicity, technologies for improving efficacy, "arming" mAbs, novel alternative Ab constructs, increasing half-lives, alternative concepts employing non-immunoglobulin scaffolds, novel therapeutic approaches, a market analysis of therapeutic mAbs, and future developments in the field. The concepts and technologies are illustrated by examples of recombinant antibodies being used in the clinic or in development. This book will appeal to both newcomers and experienced scientists in the field,... |
 |
Immunotherapy of Cancer (Cancer Drug Discovery and Development) by Mary L. Disis (Editor) Expert bench and clinical scientists join forces to concurrently review both the state-of-the-art in tumor immunology and its clinical translation into promising practical treatments. The authors explain in each chapter the scientific basis behind such therapeutic agents as monoclonal antibodies, cytokines, vaccines, and T-cells, and illustrate their clinical manipulation to combat cancer. Additional chapters address statistical analysis-both of clinical trials and assay evaluations-methods for the discovery of antigens, adoptive T cell therapy, and adaptive and innate immunity. The challenges in clinical trial design, the need for biomarkers of response-such as novel imaging techniques and immunologic monitoring-and the new advances and directions in cancer immunotherapy are also fully... |
 |
Carbohydrate-Based Vaccines and Immunotherapies (Wiley Series in Drug Discovery and Development) by Zhongwu Guo (Author), Geert-Jan Boons (Author) The fundamental science and the latest developments in carbohydrate-based vaccines The relatively new field of glycoimmunology has emerged from the marriage of glycobiology and immunology, in recognition of the important role carbohydrates play as antigenic determinants. Carbohydrate-Based Vaccines and Immunotherapies comprehensively reviews the state of this exciting field, offering a single source for both the fundamental science and the latest developments. With contributions by leading experts, this resource covers the design, synthesis, evaluation, and applications of various carbohydrate-based vaccines, including polysaccharides, neoglycoproteins, and neoglycolipids. The text approaches vaccine design from a chemical and molecular focus, staying in line with... |
 |
Allergens and Allergen Immunotherapy, Fourth Edition (Clinical Allergy and Immunology) by Richard F. Lockey (Editor), Dennis K. Ledford (Editor) Modernized and updated, Allergens and Allergen Immunotherapy, Fourth Edition discusses all major areas of allergens and immunotherapies: pollens animal/insect fungi food the manufacture and standardization of allergen vaccines the administration of vaccines the avoidance and treatment of adverse effects Compiling the research of an influential team of investigators and scientists, Allergens and Allergen Immunotherapy is filled with quick reference charts, tables and indexes. Allergists, immunologists, and otolaryngologists will find this new streamlined fourth edition a great practical reference for on-the-go diagnosis, treatment, and management of allergies. NEW TO THE FOURTH EDITION: new focus on the most... |
 |
The Low Dose Immunotherapy Handbook: Recipes and Lifestlye Advice for Patients on LDA and EPD Treatment by Nicolette, M Dumke (Author) The Low Dose Immunotherapy Handbook: Recipes and Lifestyle Tips for Patients on LDA and EPD Treatment gives 80 recipes for patients on low dose immunotherapy treatment for their food allergies. These recipes are for the basic shot time (EPD) diet and the very mixed diet, and include baked goods, main dishes, and side dishes as well as allowable snacks, desserts and treats that make these diets more livable. It also includes organizational information to help you get ready for your shots and sources of special foods and products that low dose immunotherapy patients need. |
 |
Cancer Stem Cells, Immunotherapy: An Intergrated Approach to Cancer Treatment by Obdulio Piloto (Author) Our knowledge of cancer initiation, progression and treatment has dramatically increased over the last decade. This understanding promises to deliver novel therapeutic agents that will eliminate the burden of the disease on individuals, families and society. However, early impressive clinical results are often overshadowed by relapse and the development of resistance. Recent studies strongly support the notion that at least some cancers are initiated, maintained and disseminated by cancer stem cells. These cells possess properties of normal stem cells and are typically less responsive to current therapies, thus explaining the observed resistance. Based on the cancer stem cell theory, the elimination of these cancer stem cells is imperative if we are to... |
 |
Using the Immune System to Treat Cancer |
|
Immunotherapy of Cancer, An Issue of Hematology/Oncology Clinics (The Clinics: Internal Medicine) by M. Dhodapka (Author) Tremendous advances in the understanding the biology of the immune system have ushered in several new approaches to harness the capacity of the immune system in the clinic to both treat and prevent human cancer. Biologics such as monoclonal antibodies now represent the biggest class of newly approved therapies for human cancer, while several vaccine based approaches (including DNA, dendritic cell and peptide vaccines) are also showing promise. In this issue we have brought together several thought leaders in this rapidly advancing field to present the biologic basis, current status as well as near future of immunologic approaches against human cancer. | |
|
PEPTIDE IMMUNOTHERAPY - COLOSTRUM, A PHYSICIAN'S REFERENCE GUIDE by Andrew M., PhD Keech (Author) |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |