Adjuvants for allergy immunotherapeutics

Abstract

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.

Pru p 3‐Glycodendropeptides Based on Mannoses Promote Changes in the Immunological Properties of Dendritic and T‐Cells from LTP‐Allergic Patients

“…The use of nanostructures for biomedical purposes has increased markedly in recent years . In allergy, their use has been proposed for diagnosis and therapy, as carriers of specific allergenic structures . These structures are potential candidates for safer vaccines, by carrying only allergenic peptides that can be recognized specifically without causing sIgE crosslinking on the surface of effector cells.…”

“…[28,29] In allergy, their use has been proposed for diagnosis and therapy, as carriers of specific allergenic structures. [30,31] These structures are potential candidates for safer vaccines, by carrying only allergenic peptides that can be recognized specifically without causing sIgE crosslinking on the surface of effector cells. However, nanostructures coupled with T-cell peptides for specific recognition by the immunological system may show low immunogenicity, requiring the inclusion of adjuvants to improve the immune response.…”

Phage therapy in allergic disorders?

“…While currently available therapies provide some relief and benefit, all those treatments have significant drawbacks, and therefore novel approaches are urgently needed. 1 Bacterial viruses (phages) have recently gained greatly increased attention in view of their ability to kill bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains. Consequently, phage therapy (PT) has remained of interest as a potential weapon to combat the microbial resistance believed today to be a grave challenge to medicine and civilization.…”

Induction of tolerogenic properties by Anisakis larval antigens on murine dendritic cells

“…It is of special interest that in BALB/c mice the stimulation with LPS + CE, CpG + ES and CpG + CE increased in a spectacular way the intracellular expression of IL‐12 after 12 hours of culture (Figure ). CpG ODN promotes the development of effector Th1 cell responses and has been proposed as adjuvants in allergen immunotherapy …”

“…It is of special interest that in BALB/c mice the stimulation with LPS + CE, CpG + ES and CpG + CE increased in a spectacular way the intracellular expression of IL-12 after 12 hours of culture (Figure 1). CpG ODN promotes the development of effector Th1 cell responses and has been proposed as adjuvants in allergen immunotherapy 29. As it has been said, parasitism by A simplex (anisakiosis), due in part to the absence of a parasitic-host co-evolution, causes an acute and specific Th2 type response, which results in the expul-sion of the larva, since it does not have the regulatory mechanisms characteristic of other helminths to establish a chronic infection.…”