Unreliable allergy testing puts lives at risk

Unreliable allergy testing puts lives at risk

Commercial fish extracts are often used in skin-prick testing (SPT) for diagnosing fish allergy—but they are insufficient for reliable testing and may be jeopardizing lives.

Fish allergy is serious business, affecting up to 3% of the general population and up to 8% of fish-processing workers. Although rare, this food allergy can result in life-threatening anaphylaxis.

Over 1,000 species of fish are consumed globally. However, only 30 commercial fish extracts (largely European species) are available for SPT, which may leave some allergen-sensitive populations vulnerable. This gap in available fish extracts, coupled with the lack of regulatory standardization of protein and allergen content, has called into question the integrity of SPT results.

For this study, the researchers assessed protein and allergen concentrations from commercial fish extracts using serum from fish-allergic patients. Specifically, they examined 26 commercial SPT fish extracts from five different manufacturers—representing 11 fish families or groups, including mixed species. Biochemical and immunological analysis of complete protein and allergen content was determined via immunoblotting and advanced mass spectrometric analysis.