The letter to the Editor by Dr Chirumbolo highlights the major pitfalls in basophil activation test (BAT) performance. In my view, basophil activation test should be considered as an additional clinical tool in the diagnosis of allergy and not the “absolute truth”. Basophils play a pivotal role as effector cells in allergic disease, despite representing a small population of peripheral leucocyt...

The basophil activation test (BAT) has been suggested as a complementary method for diagnosing drug allergies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical utility of this test in patients with drug-induced anaphylaxis. In total, 19 patients, all of whom had a history of moderate to severe anaphylaxis, were enrolled. None of the causative drugs had available in vitro tests or reliable ski...

Chlorpheniramine is a widely prescribed H1-antihistamine for relieving urticaria or histamine-mediated allergic reactions. However, although rare, it may cause immediate hypersensitivity reactions. The diagnosis is usually made by provocation test, but its application is often limited due to comorbidities or potential risk of severe reactions. In those cases, skin tests and basophil activation ...

The role of food additives in chronic urticaria (CU) is still under investigation. In this study, we aimed to explore the association between food additives and CU by using the basophil activation test (BAT). The BAT using 15 common food additives was performed for 15 patients with CU who had a history of recurrent urticarial aggravation following intake of various foods without a definite food...

Dear Editor, Zehwan Kim et al, [1] presented a protocol to assay basophil activation by flow cytometry (FC) that included a phenotyping panel with CD123 and CD193 (CC chemokine receptor-3 [CCR3]). This method for the electronic capture of basophils in whole blood, never published before,raises some interesting questions. CCR3 (CD193), the eotaxin receptor, is commonly present in CD3-expressing ...

Increased in vitro basophil activation in buffers of slightly elevated osmolarity in 2 cases of food-dependent exercise-induced anaphylaxis is presented. These data may suggest the importance of basophil activation degree in pathogenesis of this life threatening syndrome.