ORAL IMMUNOTHERAPY

WHAT IS OIT?

Oral immunotherapy (OIT) is an emerging approach to the treatment of patients with IgE-mediated food allergy. It involves taking small doses of an allergenic food daily.
This process may or may not cure the food allergy, but allows an individual to gradually be desensitized (less allergic) to the food and tolerate it in their diet.
It had been proposed as a potential alternative to avoidance throughout the 20th and into the early 21st centuries, yet its development had been limited until recently.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Step 1

Build-up dosing: the dose is increased incrementally under observation until the maintenance dose is reached, over a period of about six months. Dose-ups must be done in clinics and are completed usually on a biweekly basis.

Step 2

Maintenance dosing: doses are taken at home, administered daily for up to several years, depending on reactivity and the physician’s recommendation.

Step 3

When stopping food doses after a prolonged treatment, some patients will have achieved sustained unresponsiveness to their allergens (the food they are allergic to). Most will find their reactivity threshold to have increased compared to baseline level before treatment.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR OIT?

OIT is indicated for toddlers, preschoolers, school-age children and adolescents. It may be indicated for adults as well.
An accurate diagnosis of IgE-mediated food allergy is essential before proceeding with OIT.
Previous history of anaphylaxis and/or multiple food allergies are not a contraindications to OIT.