ABSTRACT
Allergic reactions can be caused by a variety of environmental challenges, including inhalation of dust or pollen, and by ingestion of foods. The oral test is excellent for the diagnosis of FA, and provides solid information for assigning elimination diet. The oral test can be performed in as open, single-blind or double-blind mode, controlled with placebo. DBPCFC is currently considered the golden standard for FA, but is not free of risks besides being technically laborious. Since the late 90's, proteomics has found applications in many medical disciplines and the early work in the field of FA date back to 2001. Since then, proteomics has been applied to allergen characterization of virtually all types of food of both animal and vegetable origin, often contributing to the discovery of new food allergens. Pre-fractionation of proteins from complex samples prior to MS analysis are the most common strategies applied to perform proteomic investigations.
