Cytokine therapy of allergic rhinitis

In the nasal mucosa of patients with allergic rhinitis, CD4⁺T precursor cells have been demonstrated to predominantly differentiate into Th2 cells rather than into Th1 cells. Cytokine therapy has been generally accepted to redress the imbalance of differentiation of Th0 into a Th1 or Th2 environment. To date, there are no reports about cytokine therapy for human allergic rhinitis, although there are a number of reports about general cytokine therapy in murine models of allergic rhinitis. Topical cytokine therapy has not been extensively investigated, however, recently, intranasal administration of cytokine, vector and antisense-nucleotide has been reported. The nasal mucosa presents numerous advantages as a target tissue for drug delivery, such as a large mucosal area, rapid absorption, no pH or enzyme barrier, and no first-pass metabolism. The permeability of various particles through nasal mucosa is limited by the tight junctions present in abundance. Therefore, the feasibility and disadvantages of cytokine therapy are discussed in detail in this report.