At present no diagnostic test predicts severity, although certain proteins to which people are sensitive have been identified as being as associated with severe symptoms.

Concentration of food specific IgE has been shown to be useful in predicting positive food challenges and, for different foods and proteins, specific IgE diagnostic cut off levels need to be set at different concentrations.

Therefore, to further our understanding of the basis for the marked severity and persistence of peanut allergy this study aims to:

• Refine a method for grading of an individual's peanut allergy severity.
• Identify proteins that give rise to sensitisation that is associated with clinical symptoms at low allergen doses and severe symptoms at higher doses.
• Identify proteins that are capable of causing atopic sensitisation, but which induce only mild symptoms at relatively large doses of peanut.

Certain foods, peanut being the most commonly described, are potent allergens and in some individuals produce severe reactions at very low doses, giving rise to persistent allergy.

However, not all of those individuals with peanut allergy suffer severe symptoms and in a few cases the allergy may resolve with age. This study therefore proposes to answer the question of whether all allergenic proteins of peanut have this potent symptom-provoking ability, or if this property is limited to a few proteins and molecular motifs.

View the project at the Food Standards Agency