What we do
About our project
Background
Commercial food allergen extracts for APT become less available over the years and are also usually not registered. The sensitivity and specificity is unknown. In the near future commercially available extracts will completely be withdrawn from the marked and there for we compare the quality with home made extracts as prepared by the Erasmus MC, to be used for the diagnosis of food allergy. These extracts are indispensible as in vitro tests have a low sensitivity and the double blind placebo controlled food challenge is expensive, burdensome for the patient, time consuming and not without risk.
Study design
SPY will be performed with 4 different allergen extracts from both sources. : Hazelnut, peanut, peach and wheat. An extensive questionnaire will be taken on the patient’s clinical history, and a food allergy specific diet history, and blood will be collected for further analysis. 200 adult patients will be included in the Albert Schweitzer Hospital Dordrecht.
Amendment
In 2019 an amendment has been submitted to METC with positive decision, to compare 10 other home made extracts as the industry announced to stop producing all food allergen extracts within the coming year.
Further experiments
Specific IgE (ImmunoCAP) will be measured against hazelnut, peanut, peach and wheat. Spin-off will consist in immunoblotting experiments with patient sera and the several food allergen extracts. Statistics will be performed e.g. history will be compared to SPT results and specific IgE.
Start date: 01-09-2017
End date: 01-09-2020
Clinical: 200 patients will be included in the study, they will undergo SPT, complete Questionnaires and a blood sample will be taken.
Our research focus
The study will particularly focus on reliability and availability of the current available food allergen extracts for the diagnosis of food allergy. Although most research on food allergy has been performed with these home made extracts, a thorough comparison with commercial extracts has never been made.
Objectives
Compare sensitivity and specificity of commercially available - and home made food allergen extracts.
Compare SPT results with patient’s specific clinical history on food allergy and if available with double blind placebo controlled food challenges.
Funds & Grants
Collaborations
Internal:
Laboratory Immunology
Clinical Immunology
External:
Albert Schweitzer Hospital Dordrecht
Publications
Our team
R.Petiet: s.terlouw@erasmusmc.nl
Dr. C. de Graaf-in t’Veld: e.graaf@freeler.nl
Dr. M. Borsboom-van Zonneveld: m.vanzonneveld@asz.nl
