elisa testing

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Belle
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elisa testing

Post by Belle »

Has anyone done Elisa testing? is it the same as MRT?
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Gabby
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Post by Gabby »

Hi Belle

ELISA stands for Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. It is a type of laboratory test. The tests performed by Enterolab are ELISA tests.

MRT, Mediator Release Testing, and is not an ELISA test. MRT testing uses a different lab technique. If you google Mediator Release Testing, you can read more about how it is performed.

Does that answer your question?

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Post by Gloria »

Gabby,

Which test do you think is more reliable? Enterolab tests the stool; the MRT and ELISA tests use a blood sample. Clearly for antibody testing, stool tests are more accurate. I wonder if there is a greater accuracy in the Enterolab stool tests over the ELISA testing.

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tex
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Post by tex »

Gloria,

You apparently misread Gabby's post. The EnteroLab test results are based on an ELISA test routine. The primary difference between the ELISA tests that you refer to and the EnteroLab test is the manner in which the sample is extracted. The fact that Enterolab extracts their samples from stool rather than from blood, makes all the difference in the world, (because the stool is loaded with IgA antibodies, whereas blood is not). The lab test routine is basically the same, however, after the sample is extracted.

Remember when I tested a couple of foods, (Chex and tortillas), a few weeks ago, for gluten? That was also an ELISA test. ELISA tests are ubiquitous in the laboratory setting. In most cases, however, the accuracy and reliability of the test results depends on the method in which the sample is extracted from the test medium, and that is where EnteroLab stands head and shoulders above the rest, because they get their samples from the optimum source.

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Post by Gloria »

I did understand that both tests were ELISA testing. I was referring to the new panel C testing done by Enterolab, which was being compared to MRT testing. For some reason, I thought the panel C testing was a different type of test. Is that more reliable than the MRT tests? Or are all the tests done by Enterolab more reliable? The reporting of the results of the Panel C testing is a little fuzzy, leading me to think that it isn't as accurate as the gluten, eggs, soy, and casein results.

Lesley is one of the few here who has had both the MRT test and the Enterolab panel C tests. It's probably too soon for her to tell if one test was more reliable than the other. It would be helpful to know, especially for people who can only afford one of the tests.

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Post by tex »

Gloria wrote:The reporting of the results of the Panel C testing is a little fuzzy, leading me to think that it isn't as accurate as the gluten, eggs, soy, and casein results.
Apparently, it's some sort of IgA test, but unlike the other IgA tests that they offer, it isn't nearly as specific. I have a hunch that it's somewhat similar to the MRT approach, except that it's applied to a stool sample, rather than a blood sample, and it's limited to the detection of IgA antibodies. The sample source alone, would suggest to me that it might be inherently more accurate than MRT results, for our purposes, but I have no idea how it actually works, so I could be all wet.

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Post by Lesley »

Lesley is one of the few here who has had both the MRT test and the Enterolab panel C tests. It's probably too soon for her to tell if one test was more reliable than the other. It would be helpful to know, especially for people who can only afford one of the tests.
And right now I am very unsure that I did the right thing. I also can't afford it, but doing it was an act of sheer desperation.
I am going to be paying it off for a long time, and that causes stress, which I don't need right now. I have some very, very stressful stuff in my life right now.
Also, I did it with a very inexperienced dietician. Using a dietician actually made it more expensive, and I am not getting much out of it. In this state the cost is exorbitant, and I truly wonder who has the money to do it. Certainly not the people who really need it.
I do NOT recommend doing it with someone without experience. And as Polly pointed out elsewhere, there are not many dieticians with the experience of Mary Beth.

There aren't many foods that correlate between the 2 tests, at least for me. There are a few, like rice, that both tests nixed ( :sad: ), which I guess means that rice is out for me.

Hopefully I will reach a modus vivendi with this disease sometime soon.
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Post by Belle »

although enterolab does not test for nearly as many foods. so what do you suggest if someone wants to see how they react to most foods?
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Post by Lesley »

That's why I did the MRT because I wasn't getting better following only enterolab. I was (and am) getting desperate after so many months with this problem.

I just went through a horrible week of C, which I finally alleviated today with crazy amounts of laxatives throughout the week. But the GERD has gotten so much worse! Swallowing is causing really bad pain. Eating has become torture. My entire digestive system feels like it needs to be taken out. I am only not losing weight because I constantly have a piece of candy in my mouth to stimulate my salivary glands to keep the GERD down.

I think the enterolab results took me off a lot of things that were harmful, but, for me, I don't think either of them give me the answer. I have to take what I can from them and keep going trying things and discarding them, right now following both tests. Eating NOTHING that either test steers me away from, and trying to introduce foods per MRT.

The jury is out. If (sorry WHEN!) things improve I will let you know.
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