The effect of rush immunotherapy with house dust mite in the production of IL-5 and IFN-gamma from the peripheral blood T cells of asthmatic children.

Although the mechanisms are unclear, rush immunotherapy (RIT) may be effective to treat allergic diseases. We investigated the long-term modifications of cellular immunity as a mechanism of RIT. The RIT group, included 15 house dust mite (HDM)-sensitized asthmatic children, received RIT only with Dermatophagoides farinae (Der f) and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Der p), whereas the control group, consisted of 10 HDM-sensitized asthmatic children, did not receive RIT. The asthma symptom scores and the skin reactivities to Der f were measured. The cellular proliferative responses and intracellular interleukin (IL)-5 and interferon (IFN)-gamma productions from peripheral blood T cells were also measured before, 8 weeks and 1 yr after RIT. The symptom scores, skin reactivity to Der f and cellular proliferative responses to Der f were decreased significantly after 8 weeks and maintained until 1 yr of RIT. The IFN-gamma/IL-5 ratio of the CD3+ and CD4+ cells were increased significantly after 8 weeks and maintained until 1 yr of RIT, while there were no changes in the control group. These data indicate that the continuous functional modification from Th2 to Th1 phenotype of the CD4+ T cells are developed after RIT in the asthmatic children sensitized with HDM.