Sustained unresponsiveness development in wheat oral immunotherapy: predictive factors and flexible regimen in the maintenance phase

Ali Pourvali¹, Saba Arshi arshi.s@iums.ac.ir², Mohammad Nabavi², Mohammad Hasan Bemanian², Sima Shokri², Sholeh Khajoei³, Farhad Seif ^4,5, Morteza Fallahpour fallahpour.m@iums.ac.ir²

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Doi
10.23822/EurAnnACI.1764-1489.254

Summary
Background. Immunotherapy may induce sustained unresponsiveness (SU) in which the patient can tolerate the allergen without any severe symptoms after discontinuing immunotherapy. The present study evaluated serum and cutaneous markers for predicting SU in patients with wheat anaphylaxiswho underwent oral immunotherapy. We investigated the effectiveness of aflexible regimen of 5 to 10 g wheat protein (WP) in the maintenance phase of oral immunotherapy (OIT). Methods. This study was conducted on 19 patients with wheat anaphylaxis who underwent OIT. The results of theskin prick test (SPT), besides specific serum IgE (sIgE) and IgG4 (sIgG4) to WP, were evaluated before the desensitization. The maintenance dose started from the preferred dose of 5 to 10 g WP after the build-up phase, if the patient could tolerate it. All patients were recruited 7 to 9 months after undergoing this flexible regimen, and the results of SPT and sIgE, and sIgG4 levels were obtained once more. The patients underwent oral food challenge (OFC) after a 3-4-week avoidance to evaluate SU. Results. There was an association between mean IgE reduction and SU (p < 0.0006), while no association was observed between the mean increase in specific IgG4 (p = 0.1), and the mean wheal diameter decrease (p = 0.29). A 50% reduction in sIgE was associated with SU. Thirteen patients were considered to have a SU. There was no association between the flexible regimen and the desensitization rate. Conclusions. The reduction of 50% sIgE is a predictive factor for SU in patients with IgE-mediated wheat allergy.

Key words
Maintenance phase; permanent tolerance; anaphylaxis; wheat desensitization; sustained unresponsiveness.

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