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Epicutaneous Immunotherapy

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Pediatric Food Allergy

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Abstract

There are currently no FDA-approved forms of immunotherapy for the treatment of IgE-mediated food allergy. Existing treatment includes avoidance of the food(s) to which a patient is allergic and being prepared to treat allergic reactions due to accidental exposures with epinephrine. Epicutaneous immunotherapy (EPIT) is an emerging treatment for IgE-mediated food allergy, and Phase II and III clinical studies have shown that treatment with EPIT results in a moderate increase in the amount of food tolerated after treatment with EPIT for 1 year, notably with a high safety profile. Further treatment with EPIT for 2–3 years has shown ongoing benefit, with recent data demonstrating sustained unresponsiveness after discontinuing therapy in a subset of patients. This chapter aims to review human studies that have shown efficacy of EPIT in peanut and cow’s milk allergic patients. EPIT treatment regimens and clinical pearls for patients and medical providers are also discussed, in addition to comparison of EPIT with other emerging treatments for food allergy, including oral and sublingual immunotherapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Section of Allergy and Immunology, Children’s Hospital Colorado, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Allison G. Hicks & David M. Fleischer

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  1. Allison G. Hicks
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  2. David M. Fleischer
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Correspondence to Allison G. Hicks .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA

    Ruchi S. Gupta

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Hicks, A.G., Fleischer, D.M. (2020). Epicutaneous Immunotherapy. In: Gupta, R. (eds) Pediatric Food Allergy . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33292-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33292-1_18

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