Immunotherapy

In Allergology International (AI) Vol.59 No.1 we have 4 Review Articles, 6 Original Articles and 2 Case Report articles. AI is publishing theme issues that include reviews in important fields of current research activity written by eminent experts. The theme of this issue is "Immunotherapy".

Ain't no cure for allergic diseases
We've got inhaled corticosteroids for asthma. We've got non-sedative anti-histamine for cedar hay fever. We've got strong evidences for many therapies which can control all allergic diseases at a minimum risk of adverse effects. But, these are not cure for allergic diseases. Thus, we keep on paying 7.5 billion US dollars every year just for treating Cedar hay fever (A report from the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute Inc. 2005).

As Fujimura and Okamoto say in this thematic issue, antigen-specific immunotherapy may be an only available curative treatment against allergic diseases. These authors review the safety and protocol of subcutaneous and sublingual immunotherapy against seasonal allergic rhinitis. Nagata and Nakagome describe the current status and future perspectives of allergen-specific immunotherapy for asthmatic patients. Kurihara reviews about the oral immunotherapy for food allergy, i.e., specific oral tolerance induction. His group, Itoh et al., also report about rush specific oral tolerance induction in school-age children with severe egg allergy as an original article.

Even immunotherapy is not cure for allergy when the memory of allergens had been already planted in our immune system. Thus, Luger et al. review about the current concept of “allergy memory” in our immune system by focusing long-lived memory plasma cells.

This issue of AI includes a variety of topics. Shirai et al. suggest that type 1 cytotoxic T (Tc1) cells have a detrimental role and that Tc2 cells have a protective role in progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Iwamura et al. found that naringenin chalcone, a polyphenol present in the skin of tomatoes, suppresses asthmatic symptoms by inhibiting Th2 cytokine production from CD4 T cells in mice.

You will surely enjoy this issue of AI and can update your knowledge about immunotherapy and general Allergology.

Good News for Authors and Readers of AI
We are pleased to announce that the journal citation index* by SCImago^® of AI has jumped up from 0.577 to 2.168. I would like to thank distinguished authors of international scientists who contributed to AI and friends who continuously support AI in this occasion. We are very keen on further expanding the scientific value of AI by receiving the highest quality articles from you and by referring to AI articles by you to your next manuscript.

*As you may certainly know, the 2008 impact factor (published in 2009) is calculated by Thomson Reuters by dividing the number of citation in the year 2008 regarding the articles published in 2006 and 2007 in a certain journal by the number of articles published in 2006 and 2007. Although we have submitted AI to Thomson Reuters for consideration of impact factor calculation (Web of Science^® Citation) in 2009, it will take several years until we get official impact factor. However, SCImago^® Research Group has recently started to publish similar journal ranking citation indexes at freely accessible website (http://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php). When you put“Allergology International” into the search query, Allergology International will show up, and then if you click it, you will find several journal ranking indexes. Cites per Doc (2y) is calculated using the same method as for impact factor. Cites per Doc (2y) index 2.168 of AI is ranked at 6th position in all journals related to allergy and allergology.

Notes from Instruction for Authors
Please note some changes in Instruction for Authors. For example, according to the Declaration of Helsinki in Seoul 2008, we have revised some ethical issues. Clinical trials such as pharmacological interventions now should be preregistered to a public registry approved by WHO. Alternatively, such as for the previously designed studies, the authors should state why they did not preregister. Also, the authors who are not speaking native English are now requested to check and improve the manuscripts by language editing services before submission.

Allergology International (AI) is the official journal of the Japanese Society of Allergology (JSA). It provides an international forum of basic and clinical research in allergology and immunology, especially aiming at advance excellence in research activities for allergology in Asia.

AI publishes original works in the fields of allergy, asthma, immunopathology, immunogenetics, immunopharmacology, mucosal immunity and immunology of infectious and connective tissue diseases. In addition to original papers, it features reviews, case reports, letters and hypothesis. Submissions from all over the world are welcome.

AI editorial board guarantees a fair review process and rapid publication of significant and novel works. The board members make effort to boost the journal up to a world-class level. From the year 2006, articles published in AI are cited in Medline (PubMed) database in NCBI, National Institute of Health, U.S.A. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed). Since then, the citation number is increased more than double according to SCImago^® database (http://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php).