Epicutaneous immunotherapy for food allergy as a novel pathway for oral tolerance induction

Abstract

Epicutaneous immunotherapy is a developing technique, aiming at desensitizing patients with food allergy with less risks that oral ingestion or injection could generate. Several clinical trials have been performed and are currently running, in milk and peanut allergy, assessing the safety of the technique and its efficacy. Preclinical models indicate a major role in the mechanisms of desensitization, for example, Tregs and epigenetic modifications.

Keywords: adults; animal models; children; epicutaneous immunotherapy; food allergy; regulatory T cells; skin.