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Immunoassays

Identify Food Intolerances.

This information is provided by IBL International, a Tecan Group Company.

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Food intolerance comprises the major part of the adverse reactions which individuals have to food and affects our health in numerous ways.

Multiple clinical manifestations of food intolerance include gastrointestinal (GI) disorders along with various diseases of other organ systems:

  • Digestive tract: vomiting, seizures, constipation, diarrhea, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn's disease
  • Migraine, headache
  • Atopic disease, atopic dermatitis, allergic conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis and asthma
  • Adiposity / Type II diabetes
  • Cardiovascular system: hypertension, arteriosclerosis
  • Fatigue, depression, etc.

The most important function of the GI tract is to digest the food intake and adsorb nutrients. Chronic stimulation of the GI tract with certain food ingredients (food antigens) can impair basic functions and potentially lead to chronic inflammation and greater permeability of the gut mucosa, phenomenon also recognized as “leaky gut syndrome”.

Two basic categories of food hypersensitivity

Food Hypersensitivities
Primary
Secondary
Non-Immunological
 
  • Anaphylactic reactions
  • Metabolic reactions

Examples:
lactose-or fructose intolerance, histamin intolerance

  • Secondary to gastro intestinal disorders
  • Secondary to drug treatment
Immunological
IgE-mediated
  • „Real“ food allergies
  • Immediate hypersensitivity reactions
Non-IgE-mediated
  • So called Food Intolerances
  • Cell-mediated or IgG / IgG4 mediated
  • Delayed hypersensitivity onset
  • Less severity
    • Immediate Onset
    • Trace amounts of food are enough to trigger reactions
    • Reactions occur within 2 hours after eating trigger food
    • Severe symptoms
    • Primarily affects: skin, airway and digestive system
    • IgE and skin test positive
    • Treatment: exclusion from diet
    • Emergency: epinephrin
    Delayed Onset
    • Large amount of food needed to provoke symptoms
    • Reactions occur 2 - 72 hours after eating trigger food
    • Less severe symptoms
    • Any organ system can be involved
    • IgE RAST negative; IgG positive
    • Treatment: exclusion from diet
    Leaky and normal gut mucosa

    If the gut permeability is increased, undigested food ingredients leak through the intestines into the bloodstream. The body then recognizes these particles as foreign “invaders,” and the immune system attempts to fight them off, causing various autoimmune disorders.

    Numerous studies describe the role of IgG involvement in food intolerance nature. Specific serum IgG / IgG4 antibodies have been reported in cases of celiac disease, dermatitis or atopic eczema, as well as in disease with increased intestinal permeability and IBS.

    The role of food in IBS requires specific mention. Majority of patients with IBS connect their symptomsto certain foods:

    • Up to 60% of patients with IBS report a worsening of symptoms after food intake.
    • The most of IBS patients (84%) report meal-related symptoms to at least one food item.
    • Patients try to identify and remove the food items they do not tolerate. A cross-sectional study showed that 62% of IBS patients limited or excluded food items from the diet (A. Cozma-Petruţ, F. Loghin, D. Miere, Dan L. Dumitraşcu, 2017).

    With a delayed food hypersensitivity, the symptom does not occur until hours or even days after the triggering food has been consumed. Due to this delayed reaction, it is often impossible to establish an obvious relationship between the symptom and a certain food. For this reason, dietary recommendations are limited and largely based more on experimental approach or pathophysiology knowledge.

    IBL International provides a ready solution to help to overcome mentioned difficulties and offers an excellent tool for assessing food intolerance by quantifying the body’s immune response. Food Screen is a state-of-the-art blood test offering a rapid, sensitive and reliable method for detecting specific food-related IgG and IgG4 antibodies.

    Advantages of IBL International Food Screen ELISAs

    1. Determination of food specific IgG / IgG4 antibodies is an excellent tool to identify food intolerances
    2. State-of-the-art ELISA technology, including ready-to-use reagents
    3. Large base of high-quality food antigens available (derived from `native` foods)
    4. Flexible number of food antigens on microtiter plate (7 / 24 / 42 / 88)
    5. Use of regional food antigens upon request
    6. Short incubation periods
    7. Common used substrate TMB
    8. Low patient sample volume required
    9. Venous and / or capillary blood can be used in the IgG and IgG4 assays
    10. Automatable on open ELISA platform (EVOlyzer®, etc.)

    Evaluation of results

    • Antibody titer is associated with complexity of symptoms
    • Quantitative (arbitrary units) or “Classes”
    • “Classes” provide relative ranking of the IgG or IgG4 response (based on the IgE RAST classes)

    Our Food Intolerance Diagnostics Assays

    Product Catalog number Quantity of plates Quantity of patients CE IVD Protocol available
    IgG Food Screen 7 ELISA 30131629 15 180 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG4 Food Screen 7 ELISA 30131628 15 180 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen 24 ELISA 30113481 15 45 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®,
    ThunderBolt
    IgG4 Food Screen 24 ELISA 30113482 15 45 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen 88 ELISA 30113483 15 15 Yes
    IgG4 Food Screen 88 ELISA 30113484 15 15 Yes
    IgG4 Food Screen 280 ELISA 30115845 15 5 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen 40 ELISA 30137756 15 30 RUO
    IgG Food Screen 42 ELISA 30124494 5 10 Yes
    IgG Food Screen Mediterranean 20 ELISA 30155431 5 15 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Mediterranean 40 ELISA 30155432 5 10 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Mediterranean 80 ELISA 30155433 5 5 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG4 Food Screen Grain + Nuts 40 ELISA 30131632 5 10 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Grain + Nuts 40 ELISA 30131633 5 10 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG4 Food Screen Meat + Fish 40 ELISA 30131634 5 10 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Meat + Fish 40 ELISA 30131635 5 10 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Dailys 88 ELISA 30131647 5 5 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG4 Food Screen Dailys 88 ELISA 30131646 5 5 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Milk + Egg 24 ELISA 30131649 5 15 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG4 Food Screen Milk + Egg 24 ELISA 30131648 5 15 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG4 Food Screen Fruits + Vegetables 88 ELISA 30131630 5 5 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    IgG Food Screen Fruits + Vegetables 88 ELISA 30131631 5 5 Yes Freedom EVOlyzer®
    Freedom EVOlyzer®

    The Freedom EVOlyzer® meets the demands of laboratories which process between 4 and 12 plates per run. Combine up to 15 assays per run for better result comparability of entire diagnostic panels.

    • Economical
    • Efficient
    • Precise
    • Safe