PLACEBO-CONTROLLED IMMUNOTHERAPY WITH COCOS-NUCIFERA POLLEN EXTRACT

The effectiveness of Cocos nucifera pollen extract immunotherapy (CPE- IT) was studied in 96 patients allergic to C. nucifera pollen. A place bo-controlled study was performed at random for a period of 6-12 month s. The clinical status of the patients measured by the symptom-medicat ion scores demonstrated that C. nucifera pollen-allergic patients had significant (p < 0.005) clinical improvement after CPE-IT in compariso n to placebo treatment. Serological study resulted a significant reduc tion (p < 0.001) of specific IgE and significant elevation (p < 0.01) of specific IgG in post-therapeutic patients' sera which were correlat ed significantly (r = 0.45, p < 0.001); the changes of the above immun oglobulin levels in the placebo-treated patients were nonsignificant. However, there was no correlation between symptom-medication scores an d changes in specific serum IgE or IgG levels.