Adjuvants for allergy immunotherapeutics

Allergic diseases are reaching epidemic proportions in developed countries. In particular, food allergy is increasing in prevalence and severity, thus becoming an important socioeconomic burden. Numerous cell types and cell populations, which form an intricate and balanced network, are involved in a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Carlos Gamazo, Carmen D'Amelio, Gabriel Gastaminza, Marta Ferrer, Juan M. Irache
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2017-10-01
Series:Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2017.1348447
Description
Summary:Allergic diseases are reaching epidemic proportions in developed countries. In particular, food allergy is increasing in prevalence and severity, thus becoming an important socioeconomic burden. Numerous cell types and cell populations, which form an intricate and balanced network, are involved in an immune response. This balance is occasionally disturbed, leading to the onset of different diseases, such as allergic diseases. Antihistamines and corticosteroids provide some degree of relief from the symptoms of allergic conditions. However, the only treatment that can revert the disease is immunotherapy. Nevertheless, specific immunotherapy has at least 2 major drawbacks: it is time-consuming, and it can produce local and even systemic allergic side effects. Immunotherapy's potential goes beyond our current knowledge of the immune response; nevertheless, we can still design strategies to reach a safer immune modulation for treating allergies. This review deals with the use of adjuvants to reduce the undesirable side effects associated with specific allergen immunotherapy. For example, nanoparticles used as immunoadjuvants are offering promising results in preclinical assays.
ISSN:2164-5515
2164-554X