Safety and Immunogenicity of a Cluster Specific Immunotherapy in Children With Bronchial Asthma and Mite Allergy

REVIEWERS COMMENTS. Although it is not commercially available in the United States, SLIT for pollen allergy has gained widespread acceptance in Europe, and evidence supporting its safety and efficacy is accumulating. The promise of SLIT is that it might provide a safer and more-convenient alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy while maintaining efficacy. Much of the literature supporting its use has involved single allergen extracts, and recent case reports described anaphylaxis with multiple-allergen SLIT. This study, which did not evaluate efficacy, addressed the question of whether the use of multiple allergen extracts for SLIT is safe in children. In this study, the authors did not find any serious adverse events in children using either single or multiple allergen extracts. Their survey involved a limited number of patients and, although SLIT seems to be safe for children, the possibility of anaphylaxis with pollen SLIT cannot be excluded on the basis of these results.