Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) in asthma

Bronchial asthma remains one of the most common chronic diseases with a high degree of morbidity and still a considerable mortality with an increasing prevalence in many countries. Although remarkable progress has been made in the past decades in the medical treatment for asthma, curative or disease modifying approaches are still limited to allergen immunotherapy (AIT). Despite a plethora of potential immunological actions observed during AIT, the precise mechamisms that might exert beneficial effects especially in asthma remain unclear. Clinical studies in the past have suggested clinical benefits in symptom control and medication use with a small reduction in allergen-specific and non-specific bronchial hyperresponsiveness but these results were mainly derived from small, frequently suboptimally designed studies which were poorly comparable. Only recently have larger, dose ranging studies with well standardized allergens with patient relevant endpoints such as corticosteroid requirements for asthma control or the onset of exacerbations following inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) withdrawal corroborated the potential clinical effects of AIT in asthma, suggesting that it might replace some of the controller effects of ICS. In addition, newer, up-do-date designed studies support previous data that in patient populations at risk to develop asthma AIT might have a role in secondary prevention. Further studies on the long term effects as well as comparative studies are needed to further corroborate the role of AIT in the prevention and the control of asthma are needed.