The antigen leukocyte antibody test (ALCAT test) is one that claims to measure adverse reactions to dietary substances. It was created by American Medical Testing Laboratories and is now marketed by Cell Science Systems (also known as ALCAT Diagnostic Systems) of
Deerfield Beach, Florida
Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just south of the Palm Beach County line. The city is named for the numerous deer that once roamed the area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,859. It is a principal ...
.
Researched conducted at
Yale School of Medicine
The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813.
The primary te ...
published in BMJ Open Gastroenterology in 2017 demonstrated improvement for those with
irritable bowel syndrome
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a "disorder of gut-brain interaction" characterized by a group of symptoms that commonly include abdominal pain and or abdominal bloating and changes in the consistency of bowel movements. These symptoms may ...
"These findings reject the null hypothesis and show that a diet guided by leucocyte activation testing results in demonstrable clinical improvement in IBS. These clinical results, associated with a reduction in plasma neutrophil elastase, have implications for better understanding the role of food intolerance and the pathophysiology of IBS."
A study conducted in 2014 demonstrated reactions identified as "severe" were associated with the up-regulation of
CD11b
Integrin alpha M (ITGAM) is one protein subunit that forms heterodimeric integrin alpha-M beta-2 (αMβ2) molecule, also known as ''macrophage-1 antigen'' (Mac-1) or '' complement receptor 3'' (CR3). ITGAM is also known as CR3A, and cluster of dif ...
on
CD4+ and
CD8+ T cells
A cytotoxic T cell (also known as TC, cytotoxic T lymphocyte, CTL, T-killer cell, cytolytic T cell, CD8+ T-cell or killer T cell) is a T lymphocyte (a type of white blood cell) that kills cancer cells, cells that are infected by intracellular pa ...
, suggesting a basis for further research into the mechanisms alleged.
Research published up to 2010 did not support the test or provide evidence that it was a reliable medical diagnostic tool; since it had not been
validated.
In a position statement, the
Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy
The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) is the peak professional body of clinical immunologists, allergy specialists, immunology scientists, and other health professionals working in allergy and immunology in Australi ...
classified the ALCAT with other forms of cytotoxic tests as
inappropriate tests, saying of them
"These results have been shown to not be reproducible, give different results when duplicate samples are analysed blindly, don't correlate with those from conventional testing, and 'diagnose' food hypersensitivity in subjects with conditions where food allergy is not considered to play a pathogenic role."
References
{{reflist, 2
External links
ALCAT official websiteFood allergy vs. intolerance
(WebMD)
Allergology
Alternative medical diagnostic methods