The clinical relevance of IgG food allergy testing through ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay)

Allergic reactions to foods may be classified as either IgE-mediated or nonIgE-mediated--the role of the former in food allergy being well-established. However, interestingly enough, the majority of food allergies are associated with specific nonIgE-mediated immune sensitivities. As such, appropriate tests must be utilized to identify possible causes, including foodantigen specific IgG antibodies. There are many testing methods available for the detection of food allergies including the skin prick test and RAST, or radioallergosorbent test. Unfortunately, both of these methods only look for allergen-specific IgE antibodies from the patient's serum. This poses considerable limitations in the clinical assessment of the chronically unwell patient.