Food allergen immunotherapy: Current status and prospects for the future

Food allergy is a common condition for which the only currently approved treatments are avoidance of the allergenic food and administration of emergency medications on accidental exposure. Over the past 10 years, significant advances have been made in the field of food immunotherapy, including oral immunotherapy, sublingual immunotherapy, and, more recently, epicutaneous immunotherapy. Each of these approaches are intended to induce some level of desensitization with chronic or repeated exposure to the allergenic food protein, although the risks and potential benefits of each treatment differ significantly. Although new data are emerging at a rapid pace and progress has been substantial, a number of important issues need to be addressed before introduction of these therapies into clinical practice. Furthermore, it is entirely possible that advances in this field will render these current approaches obsolete over the next 20 to 30 years as new and better therapies are developed.