Allergy Testing

What is PAX® Allergy Testing?

PAX® Allergy testing offers better identification of allergen cross reactivities than traditional ELISA testing, with cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants (CCD) blocking included as standard, and over 200 allergen extracts and molecular components available for testing. The test is offered in conjunction with Nextmune, who specialise in evidence-based specialty veterinary tests with a dedicated UK-based allergy testing laboratory. The PAX® allergy panels and screens provide identification of “primary” sensitising allergens, cross reactivities, and a selection of relevant allergens for specific immunotherapy.

This state-of-the-art molecular approach to the detection of sensitising allergens, identifies the single allergen components resulting in IgE sensitisation compared to traditional tests which use whole allergen extracts. This provides a higher level of standardisation and enables more precise identification of IgE antibody sensitisations.

We test for over 50 environmental allergens and over 37 food allergens relevant to the UK and Ireland. A complete list of allergens can be found on PATHPORT.

We also offer free 3-month sample storage so that samples can be taken at the time of patient presentation and then stored for future testing as required. Once the test has been requested we aim to report results within 7 days from sample receipt.

Proven benefits of the test include:

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the sampling requirements?

We recommend 1ml minimum of separated serum.

Due to the short half-life of IgE in the serum, the timing of blood sampling for IgE serological testing such as the PAX® is important. For seasonal allergies, the optimal sampling time is at least two weeks after the relevant pollen season started and/or the animal began having a flare of signs. For nonseasonal allergies, the optimal time is at least two weeks after the onset of a flare. 

What is the turnaround time of the results?

We aim to report results within 7 days from sample receipt.

What specific allergens do we test for?

A full list of the allergens that we test for can be found here.

What are CCDs and why are they blocked?

CCD screening is a new test which detects the presence of specific IgE against CCDs (cross-reactive carbohydrate determinants) in the serum of the patient and blocks it.

The majority of proteins related to allergic diseases are glycoproteins (i.e. have carbohydrates in their structure). Some of these carbohydrates are capable of generating an immune response per se in which, as a consequence, specific IgE antibodies are produced against them. These carbohydrates are known as CCDs.   Scientific studies consider the presence of specific IgE against CCDs clinically irrelevant in the allergic patient.

Therefore, blocking this IgE helps increase the clinical specificity of the result and helps improve the design of the immunotherapy.

Removing CCD-specific IgE makes the in vitro test correlate well with the sensitivity and specificity of intradermal skin tests. Blocking CCDs simply means that the specificity of the in vitro test is enhanced.

Is it possible to conduct allergy testing on equine species?

We provide allergy testing for equine and companion animals. An allergy guide for horses is available to view and download here.

Allergy tests can be requested via PATHPORT.

If you have any questions please contact your local laboratory to speak to a pathologists.