Usually, every summer we make our pilgrimage to our favorite allergist at the Allergy and Asthma Group of the Bay Area, Inc. Even though we have many lovely allergists in Reno now, my kids pretty much consider our allergist a family member! Yes, they’ve visited him more times than some cousins. This summer was painfully hot and full of family travel, so we decided to postpone our visit to fall, when the kids will be back into a routine, not overheated, battling pollen and tired from travel. Taking them off Zyrtec for any sort of allergy testing is tricky, so we have learned to thoughtfully time our visits. Alas, this fall we have a serious item on our annual agenda to discuss: Uknow Peanut™ImmunoCAP™ Molecular Testing.
This term was news to me until this summer when I participated in an online webinar about this testing. Then, I had the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Rob Reinhardt, who is a family and academic physician (he was wonderful on making sure I understood his background). He us the US medical director for Thermo Fisher Scientific (formerly Phadia) and spends much of his time educating allergists, pediatricians and family physicians about component testing.
photo courtesy of graphicshunt.com
What I understand, is that Molecular Peanut Testing to be is another type of food allergy test that is specific to the peanut that is designed to give a better picture of peanut allergy and if tolerance is approaching. The test is FDA cleared, by the way. Basically, when a traditional peanut blood test is used, the test is based on a the whole peanut–all the components rolled into one test. Molecular Peanut Testing breaks out each component (think skin, shell, nut meat, etc.). Here is a fabulous brochure that seems to do a good job explaining this concept entitled: Uknow Peanut™ ImmunoCAP Molecular Testing. Also, here are a few links to forums that Dr. Reinhardt and other experts use to connect with patients that I think you might find helpful:
· www.isitallergyblog.com
· www.facebook.com/IsItAllergy
· http://twitter.com/isitallergy
So what’s the big deal about being able to break it down? A person might be allergic to a component in a peanut that is not a high anaphylaxis risk. OR…it is the other way around, a person is highly allergic to a high risk component and is not managing their peanut allergy appropriately.
I asked Dr. Reinhardt why would any of us be interested in this testing and who are the patients that are currently using this testing? He gave me four basic scenarios…
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- Folks who are living in life stopping fear from their peanut allergy. Understanding more details of their food allergy might help them put their disease in better perspective.
- A person with a peanut allergy “label” without proper diagnosis, i.e., someone who had testing several years previously or someone who believes they have an allergy but has not been evaluated by a physician.
- Someone seeking information about their tolerance levels. This could be a patient who doesn’t believe they have a severe peanut allergy who could discover that indeed, they have a very severe allergy and should change their risk taking behavior.
- A patient who has tested positive for a peanut allergy but has no clinical history or history of reactions.
The Uknow Peanut™ ImmunoCAP™ Molecular Testing process seems fairly simple…
[unordered_list style=”tick”]- Visit your physician and ask them to download the UKnow Peanut™ImmunoCAP Molecular Test forms. Your doctor needs to fill out these forms and you need to pay up front with credit card. The cost is $300 and Dr. Reinhardt explained that since this test is new some insurance companies won’t cover it until you ask. So, do ask them to cover it as you explain that the test is fresh on the market. He explained financial aid is available too via a link on their website and that approval could take from to two to four weeks.
- Receive your kit, which will include resources and lab information that you’ll take to the lab along with your physician completed forms. The test draws one vial of blood.
- Give blood sample at lab.
- Receive information that you and your doctor will review together. Dr. Reinhardt explained that free consultation is provided to all physicians.
- Create your food allergy management plan.
UKnow Peanut™ ImmunoCAP™ Molecular Testing is new to me and I am very curious if anyone has had any experiences with this testing and if so, what was the value to you? Can you share your experience in the comment section below?
I can’t give too much opinion since I have not experienced this first hand…yet!
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Selena Bluntzer
Hello! I found this post after No Nuts Mom Group posted another post, which led me to this one. I know I’ve been following your blog since before this post, so I’m not sure how I missed it! Anyway, we did the uKnow for our daughter and confirmed her anaphylaxis risk for peanut. She tested positive to Ara h 1, 2, 3 and 8. My post with the results is here:
http://www.amazingandatopic.com/2012/07/uknow-peanut-component-test-results.html
We’re in this class of patient, as well: “A patient who has tested positive for a peanut allergy but has no clinical history or history of reactions.”
I’m definitely glad we did the test, because having zero reactions for her whole life (though only 4 years, so far), can make you wonder, but looking at her numbers, there is NO WAY she is getting an oral challenge! She’s not even getting a skin prick test, for that matter. I don’t know what we’re going to do about her peanut allergy, but whatever it is, we’ll have to tread very carefully.
Caroline
Hey Selena! Okay, so here is my question. Now that you know this, would she be eligible for OIT? Thanks for sharing! I’ve heard from doctors who are concerned about a company marketing directly to patients too. We haven’t done the test yet. I’m lagging in soo many areas!
Selena Bluntzer
Yikes! I never saw this reply, sorry! I usually check the box to be notified of follow-up comments, so I’m not sure what happened.
I don’t if/how her results would affect her eligibility for OIT. I think her asthma is an exclusion factor, plus her age (4), at this point.
Caroline
I’ve done that before! Then I can’t remember which site that I asked a question on…which makes matters worse. Were your ears burning tonight? I was talking about how intelligent you are and how much I love your blog!
Selena
Really? You are too sweet! Well, I really appreciate that, coming from such a wonderful person, whose blog *I* love!