New diagnostic procedure for fish allergy explored

As early as 2018, a research team of the MedUni Vienna showed that strict avoidance of all types of fish is in fact only necessary for few fish-allergy sufferers. However, reliable tests to determine which types could be tolerated and eaten have not been available until now. In their current study, the researchers demonstrate that a new and effective diagnostic procedure. The results of the study were published in the renowned "Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice". In order to arrive at a meaningful result, the scientists led by Heimo Breiteneder from the Institute of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the MedUni Vienna and Tanja Kalic from the Karl Landsteiner Private University for Health Sciences included test subjects from six different countries in their study. After all, there are significant regional differences in the species and allergen diversity of the fish consumed, as well as in the method of preparation, which affects the stability of the main fish allergen parvalbumin. In cooperation with researchers from Austria, China, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway and Spain as well as the industrial partner MacroArray Diagnostics, blood samples were taken from 263 patients suffering from a clinically confirmed fish allergy. The multiplex IgE test used for this purpose, with which the concentration of IgE antibodies against ten fish species is measured simultaneously, proved to be an effective instrument for the differentiation between allergy-causing and tolerated fish species for the patients. "However, we recommend that the Multiplex-IgE-Test not only includes parvalbumin, but also extracts of various bony fish and cartilaginous fish", emphasises Heimo Breiteneder, the director of the study. Potential reactions to other less commonly recognised allergens can be tested with the addition of fish extracts. Frequent tolerance of cartilaginous fish