Evolution of Immune Responses in Food Immunotherapy

Food allergies are a growing public health concern affecting approximately 8% of children and 10% of adults in the United States. Several immunotherapy approaches are under active investigation, including oral immunotherapy, epicutaneous immunotherapy, and sublingual immunotherapy. Each of these approaches uses a similar strategy of administering small, increasing amounts of allergen to the allergic subject. Immunologic studies have described changes in the T-cell compartment, serum and salivary immunoglobulin profile, and mast cell and basophil degranulation status in response to allergens. This review highlights the immunologic changes induced by food allergen-specific immunotherapy and discusses future directions in this field.