Can a basophil activation test of cord blood predict a cow's milk allergy?

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Pediatric Allergy

Background:

• Food allergies impact 4-6% of children, often developing within the first two years of life.
• Predictive markers like cord blood cells and cytokines for infant allergies are under investigation.
• The precise predictive value of early immunological markers for food allergies remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if a basophil activation test (BAT) on cord blood can predict cow's milk allergy in infants.
• To assess the utility of stimulating basophils with milk protein antigens (cow's milk and casein) for allergy prediction.

Main Methods:

• Cord blood samples were collected from 30 mother-child pairs at birth.
• Basophil activation tests (BAT) were performed using milk protein antigens (cow's milk and casein).
• Infants were monitored for one year to compare BAT results with allergy development.

Main Results:

• Infants with a casein-BAT value ≥2.6 were 33.2 times more likely to develop food allergy symptoms within the first year (P=0.03).
• No significant association was found between cow's milk-specific BAT values and cow's milk sensitivity.
• Elevated casein-BAT levels showed a strong correlation with the onset of food allergy symptoms.

Conclusions:

• High casein-BAT values in cord blood may serve as a predictive marker for food allergy development in the first year of life.
• Casein sensitivity, indicated by BAT, might be a key factor in predicting overall food allergy risk.
• Further research is necessary to validate the predictive power of casein-BAT for infant food allergies.