Development of component resolved diagnostics to predict the clinical relevance and time course of food allergy in childhood

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Allergic reactions to food affect up to 8% of children in the first years of life. Most of these children will gain tolerance later in life, although 20-30% retains their allergy until adulthood. Moreover, food allergy precedes often the development of allergic airway diseases later in life. Up to date, no single laboratory parameter proofs the diagnosis of food allergy or the natural time course of the disease. In the current proposal, component resolved diagnostics for the diagnostic of food allergy and the prediction of its natural time course will be established. Our goal is the development of a “food allergen chip” using a microarray technology. Known purified or recombinant allergenic proteins of cow’s milk, hen’s egg and peanut as well as peptides representing the known IgE-binding sites will be used. The presence and changes of allergen and peptide-specific IgE- and IgG4-antibodies will be correlated with the clinic and persistence of food allergic symptoms as well as with the development of respiratory allergies. Sera of children from three independent cohorts that were followed longitudinal will be used. Moreover, we will use proteomic approaches to identify and characterize knew clinical relevant allergenic wheat proteins. This project will be another step in the development of tools that enable us to predict the development of atopic diseases for future therapeutic interventions.