Abstract
Specific allergen immunotherapy (SIT) is at present the only causal therapy interfering with development of specific immunologic hypersensitivity. With its gradual effects, it is capable of suppressing the patient's allergisation by inducing tolerance towards the "natural" allergen in question.
The year 2011 was an important one for the field of allergology and clinical immunology, because it had been 100 years since The Lancet published a key article called Prophylactic Inoculation against Hay Fever by Leonard Noon. Today, SIT forms a part of standardised recommended courses of treatment.
In relation to aero-allergens, SIT ispresently prescripbed primarily for symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis, intermittent and mild persistent asthma. In the last couple of years, a new form of allergen immunotherapy has been coming to the forefront thanks to its safety and availability-sublingual application.
In 2009, the World Allergologic Organisation (WAO) published an important document on sublingual allergen immunotherapy (SLIT), providing evidence for its effects, safety and efficacy comparable to injections. The most recent variants of SLIT (that came after sublingual allergen solutions in form of drops) are tablets containing a standardised dose of pollen allergens.
The therapy is prescribed for children above 5 years of age, adolescents and adults with clinically significant symptoms of allergic rhinoconjunctivitis caused by the pollens of various grasses. The allergic nature of the symptoms should be verified by skin prick tests, or alternatively by a test for specific IgE antibodies for grass pollens.
Thus, with a new, efficient form of sublingual immunotherapy, new possibilities are becoming open to us.