ELISA inhibition
ELISA inhibition was performed using serum before OIT from seven of the nine patients who underwent the second OFC. Cases 3 and 9 were excluded because of an insufficient volume of serum. The binding of IgE to wheat extract was inhibited by more than 80% after preincubation of the serum with a high concentration of wheat extract, whereas preincubation of serum with a high concentration of barley extract inhibited binding of IgE to wheat extract by less than 10% (Fig 2). On the other hand, wheat and barley extracts equally inhibited binding to barley sIgE at high concentrations. Furthermore, wheat exhibited more inhibition than barley at low concentrations (0.01 mg/ml) of inhibiting extract (p =0.03).