Seminars in immunology
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Seminars in immunology · Apr 2017
ReviewDifferences and similarities between sublingual immunotherapy of allergy and oral tolerance.
Allergen immunotherapy is the only treatment altering the natural course of IgE-mediated allergies. Whereas the subcutaneous route for immunotherapy (SCIT) has been historically considered as a reference, we discuss herein the relative advantages of the sublingual and oral routes as alternatives to SCIT in order to elicit allergen-specific tolerance. ⋯ While still exploratory, oral immunotherapy (OIT) has shown promising results in the desensitization of patients with food allergies. We review at both biological and clinical levels the perspectives currently pursued for those two mucosal routes.