Seafood allergy is a hypersensitive disorder with increasing prevalence worldwide. Effective and accurate diagnostic workup for seafood allergy is essential for clinicians and patients. Parvalbumin and tropomyosin are the most common fish and shellfish allergens, respectively. The diagnosis of seafood allergies is complicated by cross-reactivity among fish allergens and between shellfish allergens and other arthropods. Current clinical diagnosis of seafood allergy is a complex algorithm that includes clinical assessment, skin prick test, specific IgE measurement, and oral food challenges. Emerging diagnostic strategies, such as component-resolved diagnosis (CRD), which uses single allergenic components for assessment of epitope specific IgE, can provide critical information in predicting individualized sensitization patterns and risk of severe allergic reactions. Further understanding of the molecular identities and characteristics of seafood allergens can advance the development of CRD and lead to more precise diagnosis and improved clinical management of seafood allergies.

UNASSIGNED: Phadiatop test is a variant of ImmunoCAP assay that covers a mixture of common aeroallergens. Its diagnostic efficiency in Chinese population remains so far inadequate. We validated Phadiatop testing with ImmunoCAP assays in a Chinese cohort.
UNASSIGNED: Phadiatop test was performed for serum samples from 290 asthmatics and 92 healthy controls previously tested with \"classic\" ImmunoCAP for house dust mix (hx2), molds and yeasts mix (mx2), tree pollen mix (tx4) and weed mix (wx5).
UNASSIGNED: Phadiatop positivity was shown in 46.2% of 290 asthmatic patients. Using ImmunoCAP as the gold standard, the concordance rate was 91.7%; negative predictive value, 92.9%; and positive predictive value, 90.2%. The sensitivity of Phadiatop test was high for hx2 (98.2%), tx4 (100%) and wx5 (95.5%), but not for mx2 (78.4%). Yet the mx2 allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) level in all missed cases was relatively low (0.35 to 0.90 kUA/L). The total Phadiatop sIgE level was correlated with the ImmunoCAP sIgE levels for all allergen mixes combined (rs =0.941, P<0.001) or each allergen mix, particularly the hx2 (rs =0.924) (all P<0.001), 0.53 kUA/L used as a cut-off would optimize the diagnostic performance of Phadiatop testing, yielding 89.4% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity in indentifying serums positive to any of these allergen mixes.
UNASSIGNED: Overall, Phadiatop test may efficiently detect sensitization to common aeroallergen mixes. In light of the currently rigorous administration on crude extracts for skin tests in China, using Phadiatop as the first-line test for suspected atopy can be cost-effective.