Review

IgE-Mediated food allergy diagnosis: Current status and new perspectives

  1. Riccardo Asero1,
  2. Barbara K. Ballmer-Weber2,
  3. Kirsten Beyer3,
  4. Amedeo Conti4,
  5. Ruta Dubakiene5,
  6. Montserrat Fernandez-Rivas6,
  7. Karin Hoffmann-Sommergruber7,
  8. Jonas Lidholm8,
  9. Tihomir Mustakov9,
  10. Joanne N. G. Oude Elberink10,
  11. Richard S. H. Pumphrey11,
  12. Per Stahl Skov12,
  13. Ronald van Ree13,
  14. Berber J. Vlieg-Boerstra14,
  15. Reinhard Hiller15,
  16. Jonathan O. Hourihane16,
  17. Marek Kowalski17,
  18. Nikos G. Papadopoulos18,
  19. Jean-Michel Wal19,
  20. E. N. Clare Mills20,
  21. Stefan Vieths

Article first published online: 29 DEC 2006

DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.200600132

Issue

Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Molecular Nutrition & Food Research

Special Issue: Reviews 2007

Volume 51, Issue 1, pages 135–147, January 2007

Additional Information

How to Cite

Asero, R., Ballmer-Weber, B. K., Beyer, K., Conti, A., Dubakiene, R., Fernandez-Rivas, M., Hoffmann-Sommergruber, K., Lidholm, J., Mustakov, T., Oude Elberink, J. N. G., Pumphrey, R. S. H., Stahl Skov, P., van Ree, R., Vlieg-Boerstra, B. J., Hiller, R., Hourihane, J. O., Kowalski, M., Papadopoulos, N. G., Wal, J.-M., Mills, E. N. C. and Vieths, S. (2007), IgE-Mediated food allergy diagnosis: Current status and new perspectives. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 51: 135–147. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.200600132

Author Information

  1. 1

    Ambulatorio di Allergologia, Clinica San Carlo, Paderno Dugnano, Italy

  2. 2

    Allergy Unit, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.

  3. 3

    Charitè Medical University, Berlin, Germany.

  4. 4

    National Council of Research, ISPA, Italy.

  5. 5

    Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania.

  6. 6

    Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Madrid, Spain.

  7. 7

    Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

  8. 8

    Phadia AB, Uppsala, Sweden.

  9. 9

    Allergy Clinic, Alexandrovska University Clinic, Sofia, Bulgaria.

  10. 10

    Department of Allergy, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

  11. 11

    Department of Immunology, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK.

  12. 12

    The Reference Laboratory, Copenhagen, Denmark.

  13. 13

    Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

  14. 14

    Department of Paediatrics, University Medical Centre Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.

  15. 15

    VBC Genomics Bioscience Research, Austria.

  16. 16

    Allergy and Inflammatory Research, University of Southampton, UK.

  17. 17

    Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Medical University, Lodz, Poland.

  18. 18

    Allergy Department, 2nd Pediatric Clinic, University of Athens, Greece.

  19. 19

    Laboratoire d'Immuno-Allergologie Alimentaire, Inrs, CEA, Gif-sur-Ivette, France.

  20. 20

    Institute of Food Research, Norwich, UK.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 29 DEC 2006
  2. Article first published online: 29 DEC 2006
  3. Manuscript Revised: 4 AUG 2006
  4. Manuscript Received: 31 JUL 2006

Funded by

  • European Commission; 6th Framework Program – 514000

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Keywords:

  • Diagnosis;
  • Food allergy;
  • IgE;
  • Skin tests

Abstract

In June 2005, the work of the EU Integrated Project EuroPrevall was started. EuroPrevall is the largest research project on food allergy ever performed in Europe. Major aims of the project are to generate for the first time reliable data on the prevalence of food allergies across Europe and on the natural course of food allergy development in infants. Improvement of in vitro diagnosis of food allergies is another important aim of the project. The present review summarizes current knowledge about the clinical presentation of food allergy and critically reviews available diagnostic tools at the beginning of the project period. A major problem in diagnosis is a relatively poor ‘clinical specificity’, i. e. both positive skin tests and in vitro tests for specific IgE are frequent in sensitized subjects without food allergy symptoms. So far, no in vitro test reliably predicts clinical food allergy. EuroPrevall aims at improving the predictive value of such tests by proceeding from diagnosis based on allergen extracts to purified allergen molecules, taking into account the affinity of the IgE–allergen interaction, and evaluating the potential of biological in vitro tests such as histamine release tests or basophil activation tests including assays performed with permanently growing cell lines.

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