THE IMMUNOLOGICAL ASPECT OF THE NASAL MUCOSA AND ITS RESPONSE TO IMMUNOTHERAPY IN PATIENTS WITH ALLERGIC RHINITIS

Abstract

Background: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is regulated by the local production and release of several
cytokines. Allergen specific immunotherapy (IT) has been widely used for many years as a specific
treatment of allergic diseases. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the changes in clinical and
immunologic markers before and after IT and to evaluate which immunological parameters correlate
with clinical improvement after Phoenix dactylifera IT in AR patients. Methods: Total symptom score
and levels of Total IgE, IFN-&, TNF and IL-10 were measured in the serum and nasal samples of thirty
non-atopic healthy controls and thirty patients with allergic rhinitis before and after 15 months of IT.
Results: We found significantly higher concentrations of serum TNF and nasal TNF with significantly
lower concentration of nasal IL-10 in allergic patients than in non-allergic. Mean symptom score, skin
test reactivity and nasal TNF were significantly decreased in the patients after IT. Moreover, serum
and nasal IL-10 increased significantly after IT. However, there was neither a significant reduction in
Total IgE nor a significant increase in IFN-& at the end of IT. Conclusions: Our data show a clinical
improvement associated with a decline in inflammation parameters after IT, supporting the hypothesis
that treatment with a major allergen is able to change the course of AR. Moreover, date palm IT
significantly induced an increase in serum and nasal IL-10 levels.