Cytokine-based immunotherapy of allergic disease

Human immediate hypersensitivity diseases are strongly associated with an excessive type 2 response to normally innocuous environmental antigens, and are a growing health care concern in developed nations. Commonly prescribed treatments provide effective symptomatic relief, but are unable to consistently ameliorate the underlying cause of allergic disease: the excessive generation of allergen-specific Th2 cells. IL-12 and IL-18 are potent inducers of type 1 immunity, and, as such, have been proposed as candidates for treatment of allergic diseases. This review critically assesses the potential of recombinant IL-12 and IL-18 immunotherapy to redirect both de novo and established allergic responses in animal models of human allergic disease to clinically protective immune responses.