Scientific publications
The Clinical Utility of Basophil Activation Testing in Diagnosis and Monitoring of Allergic Disease
Hoffmann HJ(1), Santos AF(2,3,4), Mayorga C(5), Nopp A(6), Eberlein B(7), Ferrer M(8), Rouzaire P(9), Ebo D(10), Sabato V(10), Sanz ML(8), Pecaric-Petkovic T(11), Patil SU(12), Hausmann OV(13,14), Shreffler WG(12), Korosec P(15), Knol EF(16).
Abstract
The basophil activation test (BAT) has become a pervasive test for allergic response through development of flow cytometry, discovery of activation markers such as CD63 and unique markers identifying basophil granulocytes. BAT measures basophil response to allergen crosslinking IgE on between 150 and 2000 basophil granulocytes in less than 0.1 ml fresh blood.
Dichotomous activation is assessed as the fraction of reacting basophils. In addition to history, skin prick testing and specific IgE determination, BAT can be part of the diagnostic evaluation of patients with food-, insect venom-, and drug allergy and chronic urticaria. It may be helpful in determining the clinically relevant allergen. Basophil sensitivity may be used to monitor patients on allergen immunotherapy, anti-IgE treatment or in the natural resolution of allergy. BAT may use fewer resources and be more reproducible than challenge testing. As it is less stressful for the patient and avoids severe allergic reactions, BAT ought to precede challenge testing. An important next step is to standardize BAT and make it available in diagnostic laboratories. The nature of basophil activation as an ex vivo challenge makes it a multifaceted and promising tool for the allergist.
In this EAACI Task force position paper we provide an overview of the practical and technical details as well as the clinical utility of BAT in diagnosis and management of allergic diseases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
CITATION Allergy. 2015 Jul 21. doi: 10.1111/all.12698.
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