LINEAR MONITORING OF PATIENTS SENSITIVE TO OLEA AND GRASS POLLENS TREATED WITH IMMUNOTHERAPY BASED ON GLUTARALDEHYDE-MODIFIED (ALLERGOID) EXTRACTS

Extracts modified with glutaraldehyde (allergoid) have been offered to allergologists for immunotherapy in the last few years as supposedly clinically effective agents that diminish undesirable side-effects (al lergenicity vs. immunogenicity). In order to acquire experience in the use of this therapeutic resource, we monitored a group of patients wi th pollinosis sensitive to Olea, grass pollens or both, who suffered f rom seasonal rhinoconjunctivitis (SRC) or rhinoconjunctivitis and seas onal asthma (RCSA) and were administered allergoid treatments standard ized in biological units (HEP). The patients were monitored by determi nation of specific IgE and IgG4 endpoint prick tests and conjunctival provocation tests (CPT) with two types of antigen: Lolium perenne and Olea europaea. Measurements were made at baseline (T1), when the maxim al tolerated dose had been given (T2) and 1 year after the treatment w as started (T3). According to our results, this type of extract is tol erated quite well and causes no alterations in specific IgG, or IgE le vels. On the other hand, it features significantly decreased allergen- specific skin reactivity and increased response thresholds to the CPT (p < 0.01). A high correlation between skin and conjunctival provocati on tests was observed at some stages (r=0.79, p < 0.01).