[Pathophysiological mechanisms of allergic disease occurrence and treatment]

Why the exposure to the harmless and ubiquitous environmental substances causes inappropriately strong reactions of the immune system clinically manifested as allergies in some people, and how repeated exposures to the same substances during the specific immunotherapy divert immunologic reactivity, are so far only partially answered questions. The events that occur during the allergic inflammatory response are relatively well-known, as are the major operative mechanisms through which the specific immunotherapy, the only causative treatment method, changes that response. Nevertheless, everyday new findings are completing the puzzle and our understanding of these complex processes. The aim of this paper was to review the up-to-date known mechanisms of allergic disease occurrence and treatment, with regard to the key role of T cells in these processes.