Food allergy could be detected with genetic marker

Severe food allergies have been found to be associated with a genetic marker. Image credit: Sanjay Acharya, Wikimedia Commons

Researchers have reported for the first time that a genetic biomarker may be able to help predict severe food allergy reactions.

In a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Dr Lang and colleagues found that the presence of an enzyme isoform called α-tryptase indicated that a person is at higher risk of experiencing a severe allergy reaction.

The research concluded: “The presence of α-tryptase in subjects is correlated with a higher prevalence of anaphylaxis or severe reaction to food than in subjects without any α-tryptase.”

The study included 119 participants — 82 from an observational food allergy cohort at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) and 37 children with a peanut allergy from Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Tryptase is mainly found in the white blood cells of the immune system, known as mast cells.

During an allergy reaction, the mast cells become activated.

It is already known that increased α-tryptase is associated with severe reactions in adults with a bee sting allergy.

The participants underwent tryptase genotyping as part of the study.

Portrait of Dr Abigail T. Lang taken for Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute — Abigail T. Lang, MD is an attending physician at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and an assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Source: Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute

“Determining whether or not a patient with food allergies has α-tryptase can easily be done in clinical practice using a commercially available test to perform genetic sequencing from cheek swabs,” said researcher and physician Dr Abigail Lang.

“If the biomarker is detected, this may help us understand that the child is at a higher risk for a severe reaction or anaphylaxis from their food allergy and should use their epinephrine auto-injector if exposed to the allergen.

“Our findings also open the door to developing an entirely new treatment strategy for food allergies that would target or block α-tryptase,” she said.

“This is an exciting first step and more research is needed.”

Dr Lang says that a much larger study needs to be conducted to better understand the connection between severe food allergy reactions and this genetic marker.

From there, researchers may be able to develop treatments.