Timothy grass rPhl p 1, IgG4 (monitoring of ASIT)

Allergy to meadow grass pollen is widespread everywhere, especially in our northern and central regions of the country. In some regions, the figures reach up to 40%. Plant pollen has the peculiarity of being transported over long distances by wind, affecting patients who are far from the source of pollination.

The most common manifestations of polynosis include the following symptoms: runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing attacks, itchy nose, conjunctivitis (red eyes, feeling of sand in the eyes, itching). Without timely treatment, with prolonged course, allergic rhinitis can turn into bronchial asthma. Symptoms of allergic asthma: breathing difficulty, attacks of suffocation, dry cough, shortness of breath, wheezing.

According to WHO statistics, one in three people suffers from allergies. If you are among these people, do not despair! Allergen-specific immunotherapy (ASIT) or "Allergy Vaccine" will help you forget about allergies. Tablets and capsules, drops and sprays only mask allergy symptoms temporarily. ASIT actually gets rid of the disease! At the moment, this is the only method of treating IgE-mediated allergic diseases that have a long-term effect on clinical manifestations and exacerbate the course of the disease.

The main advantages of ASIT:

• Significantly reduces allergy symptoms until they disappear completely;
• Allows you to stop taking regular allergy medications;
• Helps to avoid subsequent sensitization, prevents the transition of rhinitis to asthma.

The main mechanism of action of ASIT is the induction of antibodies that compete with IgE, thereby preventing the development of an allergen reaction. These blocking competing antibodies usually belong to the IgG4 group. Thus, during the treatment of ASIT, the level of specific IgG4 increases.

So how do you know if ASIT is working or not? Molecular allergodiagnostics will help us answer this question again. But not with the determination of IgE, but with the determination of specific IgG4 for the allergen that is being treated with the ASIT ImmunoCAP method. The absence of an increase in the concentration of specific IgG4 to those allergen molecules to which therapy is given indicates either an unresponsiveness of the immune system to the drug or the absence of specific allergen components in the drug used for treatment.

Thus, the detection of insufficient induction of a protective immune response during vaccination will help to decide whether to continue ASIT, modify it - for example, using a vaccine from another manufacturer - or discontinue this therapy.