Effect of in vitro aspirin stimulation on basophils in patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease

We read with great interest the article published by C¸ elik et al. in the October issue. The authors state that basophil activation test (BAT) is not a useful tool for the in vitro diagnosis of NSAID hypersensitivity. The authors compare their results with previous results published by our group.

In our last study using ?ve different NSAIDs in parallel including 152 NSAID intolerant patients and 136 controls, 57% of 140 patients presented very clear-cut positive BAT results to multiple NSAIDs, and 16% were entirely negative. In about 27% of the cases, positive results were obtained with 1 or 2 concentrations of a single NSAID. In that study, sensitivity of BAT when combining ASA, diclofenac and naproxen was found to be 75% and speci?city around 90%.

However, it was also observed that the leucocyte isolation method used may in?uence the reactions in ASA tolerant controls: some normal individuals may also show dose-dependent basophil activation to various NSAIDs, which appears related to their pharmacological COX-1 inhibiting effect.

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO Clin Exp Allergy. 2010 Mar;40(3):520; author reply 520-1