University of Connecticut chemists have come up with a new peanut allergy blood test that is more reliable than existing methods can, for the first time, indicate the potential severity of an individual's allergic reaction, which can range from hives to life-threatening anaphylactic shock.
 

With an estimated three million Americans allergic to peanuts and tree nuts, having a more precise and reliable allergy test could prevent hospitalizations and allow for better monitoring of individuals suffering from peanut allergies, the researchers said.
 

The new test assesses the level of antibodies an allergic person’s immune system generates in response to peanuts to determine the degree and severity of that individual’s potential reaction.
 

"A patient who has a serious allergy and gets exposed to an allergen protein [related to peanuts] will form antibodies in their body that should stay there for a while," said James Rusling, a UConn professor who specializes in detecting protein biomarkers. "Our theory is that the level of those antibodies can be used to predict how severe a patient's allergy is at any one point in time."
 

Preliminary tests of the new method found in people with known peanut allergies found promising enough that it could be refined and be on the market within a few years, the researchers said.
 

"Our hope is that this could be used as an analytical tool to investigate the actual biology of the allergic response to peanuts and other food items in general," said Rusling. "People have noted that certain carbohydrates may be involved in allergies and we'd like to determine whether they are involved or not."