Results of allergen‐specific immunotherapy in 117 dogs with atopic dermatitis

Abstract

The success of the treatment of 117 dogs with atopic dermatitis with allergen-specific immunotherapy for up to 48 months was assessed. An excellent response (remission with exclusive immunotherapy) was recorded in 18 of the dogs, a good response (more than 50 per cent reduction in medication and improvement of clinical signs) was recorded in 57, a moderate response was recorded in 24 and a poor response in 18. The mould antigens in the allergen extract were stored in a separate vial before administration and the success rate of the immunotherapy including mould antigens was much higher than in an earlier study in which mould and pollen antigens had been stored in one vial. The success rate was not affected significantly by the age of the dogs when the disease developed, or by their age or the period for which they had shown clinical signs when the treatment began; it was also unaffected by whether pollens, moulds or dust mites were used as antigens, or by whether the offending allergens had been identified by intradermal testing or by serum testing for allergen-specific immunoglobulin E.

Effectiveness of regionally-specific immunotherapy for the management of canine atopic dermatitis

“…Similar rates have been reported in studies evaluating AIT effectiveness [5, 15–17, 19, 20]. Therapeutic extracts are likely to be imperfectly matched with dogs’ actual sensitivity with both AIT and RESPIT, perhaps accounting for the similarity in response rates.…”

“…On the basis of the changes in the dogs’ PVAS, LSI, and those concomitant systemic medications with substantial evidence of efficacy (glucocorticoids, cyclosporine, or oclacitinib) between D0 and D270+, an overall assessment score was assigned by the primary investigator as follows: 1 (poor) = no clinical change or a deterioration, 2 (fair) = improvement, but concurrent medications could not be substantially decreased, 3 (good) = greater than 50% improvement in clinical signs and reduction in medications, 4 (excellent) = complete remission without concurrent medications [17]. The percentages of dogs with D270+ PVAS in the normal (<2.0) and mild (2.0–3.5) ranges were determined.…”

Preliminary evaluation of cytosine‐phosphate‐guanine oligodeoxynucleotides bound to gelatine nanoparticles as immunotherapy for canine atopic dermatitis

“…It may take quite long for clinical signs to improve with AIT (Griffin and Hillier 2001, Loewenstein and Mueller 2009). In a retrospective study about AIT, 21 per cent of the dogs showed first signs of clinical improvement in the first two months of AIT, 45 per cent in the period between two months and five months, and 17 per cent of dogs later than five months (Schnabl and others 2006). Unfortunately, only an overall assessment of the owner was given and pruritus and CADESI scores were not obtained in that study.…”

Tepoxalin reduces pruritus and modified CADESI‐01 scores in dogs with atopic dermatitis: a prospective, randomized, double‐blinded, placebo‐controlled, cross‐over study

“…Allergen avoidance is the logical way to manage CAD, 6 but as this is frequently impractical or ineffective, alternative management regimes are often necessary. These include allergen‐specific immunotherapy (ASIT), 7–9 glucocorticoids, 10 ciclosporin, 11–15 antihistamines, 16–18 essential fatty acids 19–25 and Chinese herbal products 26,27 employed alone or in combination. The use of other anti‐inflammatory drugs such as pentoxifylline, 28 the prostaglandin E 1 (PGE 1 ) analogue misoprostol and leucotriene inhibitors, 29–32 recombinant interferon‐gamma 33 and topical treatments such as capsaicin 34 and tacrolimus 35 has also been reported.…”