Allergen immunotherapy for food allergy from the Asian perspective: key challenges and opportunities.

Allergen immunotherapy for food allergy from the Asian perspective: key challenges and opportunities. Expert Rev Clin Immunol. 2018 Nov 29;: Authors: Leung ASY, Leung NYH, Wai CYY, Leung TF, Wong GWK Abstract INTRODUCTION: Prevalence of food allergy is rising in different regions of the world. Asia has not been spared from this epidemic, but epidemiological data have revealed a different pattern of food allergens in this continent. Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) for food allergy (FA), which has been revolutionary as the main focus of research in recent years, needs to be adapted for the different populations in Asia. Areas covered: Recent evidence shows increasing popularity and superiority of AIT over strict food avoidance as the cornerstone of food allergy management. Asia is a distinctive continent with specific food allergy triggers, in particular seafood and wheat. Peanut, on the contrary, is not a common food allergen in most parts of Asia. The common Asian food allergens, as well as the rapidly developing food-specific AIT in this region will be covered in this article. Expert commentary: Evidence on oral immunotherapy for wheat allergy, and pre-clinical data on shellfish AIT are promising. Further work should be done on resolving cross-sensitization between environmental allergens with wheat and shellfish allergens, and a modified AIT approach to enhance the safety and effectiveness of food-specific immunotherapy. ...
Source: Expert Review of Clinical Immunology - Category: Allergy & Immunology Tags: Expert Rev Clin Immunol Source Type: research