Publications (3)6.08 Total impact
-
Article: Requirements for acquiring a high-quality house dust mite extract for allergen immunotherapy.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The house dust mite is a major cause of respiratory allergy worldwide. The management of mite allergy is based on avoidance measures, drug treatment, and allergen immunotherapy, but only allergen immunotherapy is able to modify the natural history of the disease. Injectable subcutaneous immunotherapy was introduced a century ago, while sublingual immunotherapy was proposed in the 1980s and emerged in the ensuing years as an effective and safe option to subcutaneous immunotherapy. However, the quality of the extracts to be used in allergen immunotherapy is crucial for the success of treatment. The mite extract for sublingual immunotherapy known as Staloral 300 was developed to offer optimal characteristics concerning the mite culture medium, standardization, and allergen dose. Double-blind, placebo-controlled trials with Staloral 300 have provided a substantial part of the clinical evidence analyzed in a meta-analysis of the efficacy of allergen immunotherapy in mite-induced rhinitis and asthma. Safety and tolerability are very good, mild local reactions in the mouth being the most common side effect. This makes it feasible to carry out sublingual immunotherapy for the 3-5-year duration needed to achieve long-lasting tolerance to the specific allergen. The performance of Staloral 300 may provide optimal conditions for an effective and safe sublingual immunotherapy in patients with mite-induced respiratory allergy.Drug Design, Development and Therapy 01/2012; 6:117-23. · 2.88 Impact Factor -
Article: The clinical stage of allergic rhinitis is correlated to inflammation as detected by nasal cytology.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is the most common allergic disease. The Allergic Rhinitis and its Impact on Asthma (ARIA) guidelines classify AR according to its duration and severity and suggest recommended treatments, but there is evidence that these guidelines are insufficiently followed. Considering the validity of histopathological data, physicians are more likely to be persuaded by such information on AR. Thus, we attempted to define the severity of AR by nasal cytology on the basis of the ARIA classification. We examined 64 patients with AR caused by sensitization to grass pollen. We clinically defined AR according to the ARIA classification and performed nasal cytology by Rhino-probe sampling, staining and reading by optical microscopic observation. Clinically, 22 (34.4%), 21 (32.8%), 10 (15.6%), and 11 (17.2%) patients had mild intermittent, moderate-to-severe intermittent, mild persistent, and moderate-to-severe persistent AR, respectively. Nasal cytology detected neutrophils in 49 patients, eosinophils in 41 patients, mast cells in 21 patients, and lymphocytes or plasma cells in 28 patients. The patients with moderate-to-severe AR had significantly more mast cells and lymphocytes/ plasma cells than those with mild AR. Our findings demonstrate that the ARIA classification of AR severity is associated with different cell counts in nasal cytology; especially, moderate-to-severe AR shows significantly increased counts of mast cells and lymphocyte or plasma cells. The ease of performing nasal cytology ensures is feasibility as an office AR diagnostic procedure for primary care physicians, able to indicate when anti-inflammatory treatments, such as intranasal corticosteroids and subcutaneous or sublingual allergen immunotherapy, are needed.Inflammation & allergy drug targets. 12/2011; 10(6):472-6. -
Article: Safety of hymenoptera venom immunotherapy: a systematic review.
[show abstract] [hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: The efficacy of venom immunotherapy (VIT) in patients with insect sting allergy is not questioned. However, its safety, especially when honeybee is used, is a matter of concern. AREAS COVERED: A systematic review of the literature on VIT was done, with both aqueous and depot extracts, to compare the frequency of systemic reactions to honeybee and vespid venoms. A Medline search was performed using the keywords 'venom immunotherapy', 'safety' and 'tolerability'. The articles obtained were analyzed regarding the total number of patients treated with either honeybee or vespid VIT, the number and severity of systemic reactions during therapy, the type of extract used (aqueous or depot) and the administration regimen. EXPERT OPINION: The incidence of systemic reactions to VIT was 25.1% for honeybee venom and 5.8% for vespid venom (p < 0.0001), while it was similar with aqueous and depot extracts in the whole population of patients. This confirms that during VIT systemic reactions are significantly more frequent with honeybee venom compared with vespid venom, while there are no significant overall differences in systemic reactions between aqueous and depot extracts.Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy 09/2011; 12(16):2527-32. · 3.20 Impact Factor
