Primary prevention by early intervention with specific immunotherapy.

摘要

A series of prospective birth cohort studies performed in Australia, Europe and the USA have shown that persistent allergic sensitization is most commonly initiated during the first few years of life. In light of the wide-ranging experimental literature demonstrating that the plasticity of T helper (Th) cell memory is inversely related to the longevity of individual immune responses, the preschool years are becoming an increasingly attractive target for immune interventions aimed at primary and also secondary prevention of sensitization. Earlier studies, now replicated by many labs internationally, have implicated maturational deficiencies in adaptive and innate immune functions as risk factors in this sensitization process.