The objective of immunotherapy is to direct the immune response away from humoral immunity and toward cellular immunity, thereby encouraging the body to produce fewer IgE antibodies and more CD4+ T regulatory cells that secrete IL-10 and TGF-β, which skews the response away from IgE production.Oral immunotherapy also creates an increase in allergen-specific IgG4 antibodies and a decrease in allergen-specific IgE antibodies, as well as diminished mast cells and basophils, two cell types that are large contributors to allergic reaction. Protocol
Reactivity is tested using oral food challenges or with skin prick tests. Phases 1 & 2 of sublingual immunotherapy are conducted in a supervised clinical setting. However, phase 3 can be done at home. History
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, allergic conditions were increasingly attracting both medical attention (as an emerging public health problem) and scientific interest (aided by progress in biochemical techniques and the development of molecular and pathogenic theories). However, the many and varied treatment approaches were very unscientific.The British physicians Noon and Freeman were the first researchers to test pollen allergen immunotherapy in humans. Noon and Freeman, researchers at the Department of Therapeutic Inoculation at St. Marys Hospital in London, published their findings in The Lancet in 1911. Building on the observations of his predecessors Bostock, Blackley and Dunbar, Noon noted that people with hay fever "sometimes become cured" and that this was possibly because they "have had the good fortune to develop an active immunity against the toxin."
Xanthoma diabeticorum is a cutaneous condition that may result in young persons who are unresponsive to insulin. : 534

See also
Xanthoma
Skin lesion


== References ==