Immunotherapy for hayfever

Posted: 23rd July 2013 | Posted by AdminMR

Grass pollen immunotherapy for hayfever is associated with increases in local nasal but not peripheral Th1 : Th2 cytokine ratios

Petra A Wachholz, Kayhan T Nouri-Aria, Duncan R Wilson, Samantha M Walker, Adrienne Verhoef, Stephen J Till, and Stephen R Durham

Grass pollen immunotherapy is the only treatment for hayfever that is both effective and confers long-term benefit. Immunotherapy may act by altering the local nasal mucosal T helper type 2 (Th2) to type 1 (Th1) cytokine balance either by down-regulation and/or immune deviation of T-lymphocyte responses. There is controversy as to whether these changes are detectable in peripheral blood. We therefore examined both local nasal and peripheral T-cell responses to allergen exposure in the same subjects before and after immunotherapy. In a double-blind trial of grass pollen immunotherapy, nasal biopsies were obtained at baseline and during the peak pollen season following 2 years of immunotherapy.