BACKGROUND Detection of allergen-induced basophil activation by flow cytometry has been shown to be a useful tool for allergy diagnosis. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the potential of this technique for the diagnosis of pediatric cow milk allergy. MATERIAL AND METHODS The quantification of total and specific IgE and basophil activation test were performed to evaluate cow mil...

IgE-mediated food allergy is a relevant health problem inducing symptoms ranging from mild local reactions up to severe life-threatening situations. Currently, no immunotherapy is available and avoidance of the incriminating food is the method of choice. Therefore, reliable diagnostic tools to formulate dietary recommendations and to avoid unnecessary exclusion diets for the individual patient ...

Introduction In clinical practice, reliable tools for monitoring specific immunotherapy (SIT) are of utmost importance. Aim To assess the usefulness of the basophil activation test (BAT) in monitoring SIT in paediatric patients with allergy to house dust mites (HDM). Material and methods Thirty-one children qualified for SIT with HDM, of whom 21 completed the SIT during the observation peri...

Oral food challenge (OFC) is the gold-standard to diagnose food allergy; however, it is a labour and resource-intensive procedure with the risk of causing an acute allergic reaction, which is potentially severe. Therefore, OFC are reserved for cases where the clinical history and the results of skin prick test and/or specific IgE do not confirm or exclude the diagnosis of food allergy. This is ...

Immediate hypersensitivity (IHS) reactions to macrolides and to macrolide-derived antibiotics like pristinamycin are uncommon. In this context, there is little data available to appreciate the true value of biological tools regarding the diagnosis of immediate allergy to pristinamycin. Here we assess the clinical usefulness of the basophil activation test (BAT) to differentiate allergic from no...

BACKGROUND Basophils are circulating cells involved in hypersensitivity reactions and allergy but many aspects of their activation, including the sensitivity to external triggering factors and the molecular aspects of cell responses, are still to be focused. In this context, polychromatic flow cytometry (PFC) is a proper tool to investigate basophil function, as it allows to distinguish the exp...

BACKGROUND Despite their frequent use, systemic corticosteroids have rarely elicited immediate-type reactions. OBJECTIVE We report two male patients, aged 26 and 70 years, respectively, with severe immediate-type hypersensitivity secondary to the administration of corticosteroids esterified with succinate. METHODS Skin tests, basophil activation tests and challenge tests were performed for ...