Clearing the Confusion about Cross-Reactions in Allergy Testing

There are times when patients test positive for allergenspecific IgE antibodies against a certain food or pollen but show no symptoms when encountering the identified allergen. When these false positives occur, the clinician should be aware of a cross-reaction that occurs between allergen-specific IgE antibodies and cross-reactive carbohydrate determinant (CCD) antigens.