Novel Strategies for Food Allergy Diagnosis.

Abstract

Food allergy is a major public health problem that affects 8% of children and 10% of adults in the United States, adversely impacts the quality of life of the patients and their caregivers, and inflicts a heavy economic toll on society. Precise diagnosis is fundamental to optimize clinical decisions in order to avoid severe anaphylaxis and minimize unnecessary dietary restrictions. Optimizing the decision points of existing diagnostic assays such as skin prick tests and serum IgE measurements, exploring new approaches, including epitope-based assays, basophil activation tests, and mast cell activation tests, and discovering new cellular biomarkers through T-cell and -omics studies are contributing to the improved accuracy and dimension of food allergy diagnosis. This review summarizes the value of different novel approaches for food allergy diagnosis, and how they can help define the prognosis of food allergy and possibilities for intervention.