Bee Venom Immunotherapy: Current Status and Future Directions

This article reviews preclinical and clinical evidence on the therapeutic potential of these new therapies. Among hypoallergenic derivatives, hybrid allergens showed a markedly reduced IgE reactivity in mouse models. Whether they will offer therapeutic benefit over extract, it is still not known since clinical trials have not been carried out yet. T cell epitope peptides have proven effective in small clinical trials. Major histocompatibility complex class II restriction was circumvented by using long overlapping or promiscuous T cell epitope peptides. However, the T cell –mediated late-phase adverse events have been reported with both short and longer peptides. Application of mimotopes could potentially overcome both T cell– and IgE-mediated adverse events. During this evolution of vaccine, there has been a gain in safety. The efficacy was further improved with the use of Toll-like receptor-activating adjuvants and delivery systems. In murine models, the association of allergen Api m 1 with cytosine-guanosine rich oligonucleotides stimulated strong T-helper type-1 response, whereas its encapsulation into microbubbles protected mice against allergen challen ge. An intralymphatic administration of low-dose vaccine has shown the potential to decrease treatment from 5 years to only 12 weeks. Bigger clinical trials are needed to follow up on these results.

Source: Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology - June 25, 2019 Category: Allergy & Immunology Source Type: research