Allergen immunotherapy beneficial for atopic dermatitis patients: Study

Hungary: Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) can be used as an adjuvant treatment for sensitized atopic dermatitis patients, suggests a recent study in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

In some atopic disease, AIT is considered a curative treatment, but in AD there exists contradictory clinical results and the AIT action has not been elucidated. In the literature, there is no evidence for parallel investigations of blood, permeability barrier and cutaneous immune responses after AIT in AD. K. Hajdu, University of Debrecen, Hungary, and colleagues aimed to investigate immune parameters in the blood and skin and to detect clinical and barrier changes after AIT in AD.

For the purpose, the researchers selected 14 mild‐to‐moderate AD patients with concomitant allergic rhinitis to house dust mites. All the patients received topical treatment, while eight patients were randomly selected for adjuvant AIT also. At baseline and after 6 months, clinical, barrier and immunological investigations (serum and skin tests) were performed. In selected patients, the researchers analysed biopsies from atopy patch tests (APTs) by immunohistochemistry for AD‐relevant immune cells and mediators. 

"Allergen immunotherapy is a beneficial adjuvant treatment for sensitized AD patients. AIT improves not only clinical symptoms, but also permeability barrier functions. The effect of AIT on sensitization should be detected by APT, not by SPT," wrote the authors. 

The study, "Improvement of clinical and immunological parameters after allergen‐specific immunotherapy in atopic dermatitis," is published in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

DOI: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jdv.17018