New pharmaceutical approaches for the treatment of food allergies

Allergic diseases constitute one of the most common causes of chronic illness in developed countries. The main mechanism determining allergy is an imbalance between Th1 and Th2 response towards Th2.

This review describes the mechanisms underlying the natural tolerance to food components and the development of an allergic response in sensitized individuals. Furthermore, therapeutic approaches proposed to manage these abnormal immunologic responses food are also presented and discussed.

In the past, management of food allergies has consisted of the education of patients to avoid the ingestion of the culprit food and to initiate the therapy (e.g. self-injectable epinephrine) in case of accidental ingestion. In recent years, sublingual/oral immunotherapies based on the continuous administration of small amounts of the allergen have been developed. However, the long periods of time needed to obtain significant desensitization and the generation of adverse effects, limit their use. In order to solve these drawbacks, strategies to induce tolerance are being studied, such as the use of either adjuvant immunotherapy in order to facilitate the reversion of the Th2 response towards Th1 or the use of monoclonal antibodies to block the main immunogenic elements.