Umbilical Cord Blood Does Not Give Allergy Risks

A new study has found out that biomarkers coming from the umbilical cords or newborn babies, that could assess the risk of allergies, more often come from the mother rather than from her baby.

New parents are asked if they want hospitals to evaluate the risk their babies run of developing allergies later in life, and for several years now, the hospitals have been doing so by testing blood samples from the umbilical cords of newborns.

The test measures the amount of the IgE antibody in the blood, and the results are then used to assess the need for allergy prophylaxis, or whether babies need a non-allergic substitute for milk.

Researchers from COPSAC (Copenhagen Studies on Asthma in Childhood) at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen found that there is a chance that IgE in the blood of the umbilical cord could come from the mother, and decided to carry out a new study.

The new research measured the total quantity of IgE in the blood coming from 243 umbilical cords of newborns and found out how much IgE was actually coming from the mother by using extremely sensitive and precise analysis of IgE in the blood of the umbilical cord, blood from the mother, and blood from the baby six months after birth.

They found out that “approximately half of the tests with increased IgE levels in the umbilical blood were due to IgE from the mother,” sad Dr. Klaus Bønnelykke, PhD.

“This may explain why many studies have shown poor results from the use of umbilical cord IgE,” he added.

“In future, if we want to use blood from the umbilical cord to assess the risk of an infant developing asthma or allergy we need to take the transfer of IgE from the mother into account; or we will need to find another method.”

An allergy is triggered when the defense mechanism of the body is not functioning well and it mistakes normal substances entering the body for invasive pathogens.

Antibodies fight viruses, bacteria, parasites and other substances, but during an allergy, the body directs them towards harmless substances like nuts, eggs, grass pollen or pets.

The new findings have been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.