Allergen biodistribution in humans

Specific immunotherapy performed by noninjectable (oral, nasal or oromucosal) routes was mostly developed in the last 20 years with the main aim to avoid side effects that occasionally occur in the course of injectable immunotherapy. Although evidence of its clinical efficacy has been provided some pharmacokinetics aspects are still to be elucidated. In this review we discuss experimental findings of mucosal processing, biodistribution in healthy or allergic humans of 123I-labelled major allergen of Parietaria judaica (the most important cause of seasonal allergy in the Mediterranean area) administered by sublingual or nasal routes. The results available to date show that most allergen administered by mucosal route is absorbed via the gastrointestinal tract; however, a proportion is retained at the mucosal level for a relatively long time. These data are potentially useful to improve immunotherapy treatment protocols by noninjectable routes.