Immunotherapy with Alpare® in patients with respiratory allergy to Parietaria pollen: a two year double‐blind placebo‐controlled study

Abstract

Allergy to Parietaria judaica pollen causes significant morbidity in many areas of the world. In addition to rhinitis, patients who are allergic to this pollen have a high incidence of asthma. The pollinating season is long, making this particular allergy challenging for clinicians to treat. This study was designed to determine if immunotherapy with an alum adsorbed partially purified Parietaria extract (Alpare Parietaria) containing a targeted maintenance dose of 12,500 BUs was effective in decreasing rhinitis symptoms in patients allergic to Parietaria. Using a double-blind placebo-controlled technique 36 patients received placebo or active extract for 2 years. Twenty (11 placebo and nine active) completed the 2 year study. Efficacy of treatment was evaluated by determining changes in skin reactivity, visual analog scores, diary symptom scores and end of study assessments. Reactions were monitored as well. Skin-test suppression was marginally significant in the actively treated group after 1 year and showed even more significant suppression after the second year. Nasal block, rhinorrhoea and sneezing all were significantly decreased in the active group. The nasal provocation test did not show a significant change after 1 year, in either group, but after 2 years of treatment the active group did show significant improvement. Although almost all patients in the actively treated group experienced local reactions, the incidence of systemic reactions was not different between the two groups. In conclusion, immunotherapy with this extract at this dose was effective in ameliorated rhinitis symptoms in patients allergic to Parietaria judaica.

Subcutaneous immunotherapy and pharmacotherapy in seasonal allergic rhinitis: A comparison based on meta-analyses

“…In the meta-analysis by Calderon et al, 6 only 8 studies met the criteria for our meta-analysis in terms of nasal symptom scores. 12,17,21,24,[27][28][29][30] Of these 8 studies, we had to exclude the studies by D'Amato et al 28 and Dolz et al 29 because it was not possible to extrapolate the data concerning clinical efficacy during the first season after treatment initiation. We included 6 trials, which included 349 subjects receiving active immunotherapy and 236 receiving with placebo.…”

Immunotherapy as an effective tool in allergy treatment

“…Fifteen studies investigated the efficacy of immunotherapy in grass-pollen allergy (8,13,16,18,20,21,23,25,30,34,37,38,40,44,47), of which 14 proved efficacy. Nine studies investigated other pollen allergens: mountain cedar (10,27,29), Parietaria (42,43,46), Cupressus (45), Cocos (41), and mixtures (6); efficacy was demonstrated in six. The efficacy of house-dust-mite immunotherapy (14,24,26,28,33) was based on five studies (three showing efficacy).…”

Aktuelle Therapiekonzepte bei allergischen und hyperergischen Erkrankungen der oberen Luftwege

“…Auch bei anderen Pollen− allergenen von z. B. Birke, Erle und Hasel [278], Beifuß [279] und Parietaria [280,281] wurde mit der SIT eine gute Wirksamkeit er− zielt.…”

“…Die Dosissteigerung erfolgt hierbei innerhalb von nur 3 ± 5 Tagen. Offensichtlich ist im Gegensatz zu früheren Annahmen gerade die Cluster−SIT mit Depot−Präparaten sicherer als mit wässrigen Extrakten [279,280]. Allerdings liegen weiter ausreichende Erfahrungen bzgl.…”