NOVEOS™ and ImmunoCAP™ have similar performances for diagnosing food allergies.

BACKGROUND: The clinical interest of newly available platforms for specific IgE measurement must be evaluated. However, data are lacking for NOVEOS™ (Hycor), in particular for food allergens.

OBJECTIVE: We compared technical and clinical performance of two platforms (ImmunoCAP™ and NOVEOS™) for the measurement of specific IgE to 10 food allergens.

METHODS: Sera from 289 clinically-characterized patients were tested for IgE specific for six food allergen extracts (egg white, cow's milk, peanut, hazelnut, fish, shrimp) and four molecular allergens (Gal d 1, Bos d 8, Ara h 2, Cor a 14). Specific IgE measurements were carried out using ImmunoCAP™ and NOVEOS™ methods. Food allergy diagnosis was established according to international guidelines.

RESULTS: A strong correlation (rho>0.9) was present between the two platforms, while specific IgE concentrations measured with NOVEOS™ were consistently lower (mean -15%) than with ImmunoCAP™. NOVEOS™ and ImmunoCAP™ provided similar overall odds ratios and relative risks for food allergy diagnosis, with both allergen extracts and molecular allergens. When all 10 allergens were considered, NOVEOS™ provided better ROC curves (p=0.04). Finally, we found that the most discordant results were observed with hazelnut and peanut extracts, and were related to cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants on these two ImmunoCAP™.

CONCLUSIONS: Specific IgE determination by either ImmunoCAP™ or NOVEOS™ (odd-ratios of allergy were 25.1 or 33.0, respectively) is highly informative on the risk of allergy in the selected population. The NOVEOS™ platform presents the advantage of being less affected by unwanted reactivity due to carbohydrate determinants-specific IgE, while requiring a ten-fold lower test sample volume.