Yeah, there's no way to test for all allergies, either - and autoimmunity is just an allergy to a protein you make yourself. I was shocked to discover this, but there are on the order of 100,000 different proteins in blood, and electrophoresis is the most general test for them. However, electrophoresis can only sort them by weight. So it's useless for antibodies, which are mostly of similar size.
To check for allergy to a specific allergen, they take the allergen, attach it to a radioactive particle, glue your antibodies to a plate, and see how radioactive the plate gets when you wash it in the tagged allergen.
Repeat for every allergen.
Really.
Somebody will come up with what I expect to be a nanotechnology-based antibody assay or inventory method and will make a freaking mint someday. It could be you! It could be me! But it's definitely an opportunity that's out there.
To check for allergy to a specific allergen, they take the allergen, attach it to a radioactive particle, glue your antibodies to a plate, and see how radioactive the plate gets when you wash it in the tagged allergen.
Repeat for every allergen.
Really.
Somebody will come up with what I expect to be a nanotechnology-based antibody assay or inventory method and will make a freaking mint someday. It could be you! It could be me! But it's definitely an opportunity that's out there.