CLINICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF PRE-CO-SEASONAL SUBLINGUAL IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH BIRCH MONOMERIC ALLERGOID IN PATIENTS WITH ALLERGIC RHINOCONJUNCTIVITIS

Sublingual immunotherapy is safe and efficacious in the treatment of patients with allergic rhinitis. The clinical and biological efficacy of modified allergens (allergoids) has not been fully clarified. We investigated in birch allergic patients the effect of a pre-co-seasonal sublingual immunotherapy regimen with a modified allergen extract on clinical parameters and on T cell proliferation and regulatory cytokine production (IL-10, TGF-beta). We found that during the birch pollen season symptoms and drug usage scores were 30 and 40% improved, respectively, in treated versus control subjects (p<0.0001 for both comparisons) whereas well days were 23.5 (33%) versus 16.9 (23%) (p=0.0024), respectively. Bet v I allergen specific proliferation decreased (p = 0.0010), whereas IL-10 transcription increased (p = 0.0010) in treated, but not in control patients. Moreover, TGF-beta transcription was increased, although not significantly (p=0.066), following immunotherapy. Thus, sublingual immunotherapy with modified allergen in birch-allergic subjects was safe, clinically efficacious and associated with the reduction of allergen-specific proliferation and with the increased production of the IL-10 regulatory cytokine.