Abstract
Increasing safety while maintaining or even augmenting efficiency are the main goals of research for novel vaccine development and improvement of treatment schemes in allergen immunotherapy (AIT).1, 2, 3, 4 In spite of encouraging positive experiences,5 AIT still faces several problems related to worldwide standardization, its limited efficacy, potential severe side effects, low patient adherence, high costs, and long duration (3–5 years) of treatment. There have been many different approaches to improve the standardization, efficacy, and safety of AIT in the past, which have been continuously pursued during the past years.6, 7, 8 Currently, efforts on developing novel vaccines of AIT continue for the treatment of asthma,9 allergic rhinoconjunctivitis,10 bee venom allergy,11 and food allergy.12 Similar efforts are being undertaken for autoimmune diseases. Studies to offer prophylactic usage are also being performed.13 Regulatory issues represent an important aspect in this context14 and global and national strategies are being continuously developed.15,16 It is essential to develop strong collaborations with the regulatory authorities for extensive preventive usage of AIT vaccines and usage of pollen chambers for outcome evaluations to avoid slowing down of vaccine developments. Here, the authors summarize some current investigations aiming at further improvement of AIT vaccines (Table 1).
Komlósi, Zsolt István