Is it worthy to take full‐course immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis? About efficacy biomarker of allergen immunotherapy

Nowadays, people pay more attention to biomarkers that can predict clinical efficacy of immunotherapy for allergic rhinitis. As the only recognized aetiological treatment, the efficacy of allergen immunotherapy (AIT) has been proved by many studies. However, treatment success depends on compliance and persistence greatly, which can be impaired by the lengthy duration of AIT and socioeconomic status of patients. Besides, ineffectiveness is another factor that accounts for non-adherence. If the clinical efficacy can be predicted in the early stage of immunotherapy, it can help patients choose appropriate treatment plans, increase patient compliance and optimize the allocation of medical resources. This paper mainly focuses on five candidate biomarkers, the sIgE/tIgE ratio before treatment, serum inhibitory activity for IgE, decreased basophil activation, upregulation of Tregs and tolerogenic DCs, reviews the time when potential biomarkers can predict or monitor the efficacy of AIT, discusses the reason why these indicators could serve as efficacy biomarkers and interactions among potential biomarkers.