GEN-MKT-18-7897-A
Jun 21, 2017 | Blogs, Food / Beverage | 0 comments
A recent study published by the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), pointed out, in a study of 109 people tested, that skin prick tests are not 100 percent reliable. In the study, participants were subjected to oral food challenges prior to skin testing in which 50 percent of individuals had no reaction. It was also discovered that blood tests were not full-proof even though they measure the presence of IgE antibodies to specific foods. These results are not surprising given that 50 to 60 percent of tests result in false-positives.
This occurs for several reasons:
It would seem, therefore, that more reliable tests are needed which brings me back to the lab. Today, blood tests are commonly interpreted using Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) despite a high incidence of false-positives. ELISA is affordable, straightforward, and provides effective testing results when used in conjunction with a person’s medical history. However mass spectrometry is more effective in detecting allergens due to its sensitivity, ability to correspond to unique allergen peptides, and its multi-allergen capabilities. Yes, mass spec is more expensive, but because of their versatility and sensitivity, you get a swift ROI while reducing those pesky false positives. You can learn more about Mass Spectrometry Myths in one of my previous posts.
Want to learn more about mass spectrometry and food allergen testing? Visit our Allergen page or read previous blog posts.
The Echo® MS+ system is a novel platform for Acoustic Ejection Mass Spectrometry (AEMS) and combines the speed of acoustic sampling with the selectivity of mass spectrometry. This platform has been designed for high throughput analysis of small and large molecules. The technology combines Acoustic Droplet Ejection (ADE), an Open Port Interface (OPI) and could be coupled with the SCIEX Triple Quad 6500+ system or the ZenoTOF 7600 system.
The Echo® MS+ system comprises of an open-port interface (OPI) and acoustic droplet ejection (ADE) module which could be coupled with a mass spectrometer. The mass spectrometer could either be a SCIEX Triple Quad 6500+ system or the ZenoTOF 7600 system. This non-liquid chromatography based; high-throughput screening platform enables rapid analysis of compounds at speeds of up to 1 sample/second.
The ability to consistently achieve reproducible results on many complex samples across multiple days is critical to a routine clinical laboratory. Laboratories relying on analytical instrumentation require stability and robustness to perform a variety of screening and confirmatory assays with confidence. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has become the preferred analytical method in the clinical laboratory to reliably perform clinical testing as it provides best-in-class performance and reliability for the most challenging assays. LC-MS/MS offers the required levels of sensitivity and specificity for the detection and quantitation of molecules from complex biological samples, helping laboratories deliver highly accurate data for a variety of clinically relevant analytes across a wide range of assays.
Posted by
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Share this post with your network