New Ultrasensitive Test Can Predict Severity of Peanut Allergies

There may be a new test that could help children with peanut allergies. A new, ultra-sensitive test can not only tell whether or not an individual is allergic to peanuts, but how severe their reaction might be.

An estimated three million people in the United States are allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. This means that tests to find out whether or not a person is allergic is crucial, especially when there's a risk of life-threatening anaphylactic shock.

When an allergic person eats peanuts, their immune system releases an antibody protein known as immunoglobulin E, or IgE. These antibodies fight off peanut allergen molecules by binding to them and flushing them out of the body. But the release of the antibodies causes tissue cells in the body to produce histamine, which in turn generates a variety of allergy symptoms. The more antibodies that are released, the more histamine is generated and the stronger the person's allergic response.

Existing allergy tests can generally measure IgE antibodies found in a blood sample. However, the presence of other biomolecules can distort the results, which causes them to not always be accurate.

"The traditional method of measuring these antibodies uses a mixture of all the peanut proteins, not individual parts," said Mark Peczuh, one of the researchers, in a news release. "But some of the stuff in the mixture can lead to readings that a patient is allergic when she or he is not. And the converse can be true, where the results show someone is not allergic when they actually are."

In this latest test, the researchers tested three components from the most potent peanut allergen. One sample was a protein peptide, another a carbohydrate residue and the third was a positive control. The scientists injected blood serum from patients known to have peanut allergies into the array. As the blood serum floated over the samples, IgE antibodies were pulled down by the allergens and bound by them. The scientists could then measure the quantity of antibodies to determine how strong a reaction a person would have to peanuts.

The test results actually correlated with patients' known allergy levels from other tests. This means that this test could be a new way to test for peanut allergies.

"Our hope is that this could be used as an analytical tool to investigate the actual biology of the allergic response to peanuts and other food items in general," said James Rusling, one of the researchers.

The findings are published in the journal Analyst.

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