Aim: Whether house dust mite (HDM) sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is effective for the skin symptoms of adult atopic dermatitis (AD) is unclear.Methods: HDM SLIT was added to conventional AD treatment for 10 HDM-sensitized AD patients with rhinitis for 2 years.Results: Seven out of ten enrolled patients completed the study. Eczema Area and Severity Index score was significantly reduced when comparing before treatment and at 24 months follow-up. CD203c ratio in the basophil activation test using HDM extract, skin prick test with HDM extract and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus/Dermatophagoides farinae specific-IgG4 tended to improve when comparing before treatment and after treatment.Conclusion: HDM SLIT might be a therapeutic option for AD patients with rhinitis who are sensitized to HDM.
Keywords: allergy immunotherapy; atopic dermatitis; dermatophagoides farinae; dermatophagoides pteronyssinus; sublingual immunotherapy.
What is this article about? This study examined the effect of house dust mite (HDM) sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), which is treatment to make the immune system work better to use medicine that is put under the tongue, as an add-on to conventional atopic dermatitis (AD) treatment on the improvement of skin symptoms and immunological response to HDM SLIT in patients with adult AD complicated with rhinitis.What were the results? Eczema Area and Severity Index score which is one of the AD assessment indices and represents AD severity, was significantly reduced when comparing before treatment and at 24 months follow-up. The immune response to HDM tended to improve when comparing before treatment and after treatment.What do the results of the study mean? HDM SLIT might be a therapeutic option for AD patients with rhinitis who are sensitized to HDM.