ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses class II food allergens involved in the clinical manifestation of the syndrome, and deals with the molecular mechanism responsible for the occurrence of a pollen-food syndrome. It presents a precise update on diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that are available for clinicians to handle pollen-food syndromes. The chapter highlights new prospective therapeutic approaches for allergen-specific, as well as allergen-non-specific immunotherapy, to treat pollen-related food allergy conditions with a focus on a novel and more experimental point of view. The first level of diagnosis consists of a precise description of the patient's medical history followed by the performance of well-standardized diagnostic skin tests such as skin prick tests, prick-to-prick tests and atopy patch tests. Beside the specific immunotherapies, which target the symptom-triggering allergens, non-specific therapies can also be of value for class 2 food allergic patients such as anti-IgE therapy, helminth therapy and the induction of a Th2- to Th1-immune response shift by a bacterial strain.
