Abstract

Background: Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) is currently the only treatment with potential long-term diseasemodifying effects for patients suffering from allergic diseases such as allergic rhinitis, allergic asthma, venom allergy, or IgE-mediated food allergy. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying immune responses during successful AIT is of utmost importance and it may help to develop more effective and safer treatments. Materials and methods: PubMed literature review was performed using keywords such as allergen-specific immunotherapy; regulatory T cells; regulatory B cells; regulatory innate lymphoid cells; and allergen-specific antibody from years 2018 to 2021. Results: The proposed mechanism of long-term tolerance induction in AIT, even upon treatment discontinuation, involves basophils, mast cells, innate lymphoid cells, dendritic cells, allergen-specific regulatory T and B cells, downregulation of effector type 2 responses, decrease in the production of IgE and increase in production of allergen-specific blocking antibodies, such as IgG2 and IgG4. Conclusion: We summarize the most recent advances related to mechanisms involved in the restoration of healthy immune responses to allergens during AIT. Our knowledge in this regard has significantly improved over the last years, which might well contribute to design novel and improved therapeutic approaches.

Author Details

Authors

• Pattraporn Satitsuksanoa¹
• Alba Angelina²
• Oscar Palomares²
• Mübeccel Akdis¹

Departments

• ¹ Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF), University of Zurich, Davos, Switzerland, and
• ² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Address

Oscar Palomares, PhD, Avenida Complutense s/n, School of Chemistry, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain, and Mübeccel Akdis, MD, PhD, Herman Burchard Strasse 9, CH-7265, Davos Wolfgang, Switzerland
Email: [email protected]

Citation