Japanese scientists have developed an improved blood test, AlphaCL, that can accurately identify dangerous food allergies, reports infohub.kz.
Current allergy tests are often imperfect: they measure the number of IgE antibodies to a specific food but do not indicate whether those antibodies will cause actual symptoms. As a result, patients often have to follow strict diets that may be unnecessary. To address this issue, researchers from Hiroshima University, Aichi Children's Health and Medical Center, and Shimane University created an enhanced version of the test based on the AlphaCL method.
Unlike classical functional tests, the new method does not require the use of living cells. The researchers modified the structure of allergens, allowing them to completely remove interfering components from blood serum samples. During trials, the enhanced method retained 66% of the detection signal strength, while the standard test showed only 3.3%. The new system successfully detected functional antibodies in 93.3% of children with confirmed allergies to eggs, wheat, and milk. The developers hope their test will help avoid dangerous oral food challenges.