Abstract

The great milestones in medicine almost always have their precursors, which help the great event to break through. So it was with allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) and the great work of Noon and Freeman and their world-renowned publication in 1911. In this article, we want to outline AIT’s long journey, from early attempts to achieve tolerance to allergens in the environment. Many very different methods were used; from homeopathy to the use of recombinant allergens. Initially, the allergen extracts were given only subcutaneously, but then also through other routes, such as nasal, rectal, intradermal, epicutaneous, in lymph nodes, or oral. It was the great merit of Bill Franklin, whom many of us still experienced as active participants in congresses, to point out that the effect of AIT must be documented not only by clinical observation but in a controlled form including placebo injections. AIT was thus transferred to evidence-based medicine, which we successfully apply today. We would like to express our gratitude to Bill Franklin himself and all others involved in the development of AIT with this summary of 111 years of immunotherapy.

Author Details

Authors

• Jan Gutermuth¹
• Martine Grosber¹
• Oliver Pfaar²
• Karl Christian Bergmann³
• Johannes Ring⁴

Departments

• ¹ Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Free University Brussels, Brussels, Belgium,
• ² Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Section of Rhinology and Allergy, University Hospital Marburg, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg,
• ³ Institute of Allergology, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, and
• ⁴ Department of Dermatology and Allergology Biederstein, Technical University Munich, Munich, Germany

Address

Prof. Dr. med. K.-Ch. Bergmann, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Ambulanz: Campus Benjamin Franklin, Haus 2, Hindenburgdamm 30, 12200 Berlin, Germany
Email: [email protected]

Citation