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PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We review basophil testing by flow cytometry with an emphasis on advantages and disadvantages. RECENT FINDINGS: There are many tools available to assess the presence and severity of allergic diseases in patients. For 50 years, peripheral blood basophils have been used as tools to study these diseases. It is a very accessible cell that binds IgE antibody and secretes the classical mediators responsible for the symptoms of allergic reactions. In the last decade, an even more accessible methodology, using flow cytometry, has been developed to enhance the ability to use basophils for both mechanistic and clinical diagnostics. Basophil testing has been included in diagnostics for different forms of allergies as well as to monitor disease status. A variety of studies have begun to establish both precise methods and their clinical relevance for disease diagnosis, but there remain some important questions on how to take optimal advantage of the behaviours of basophils.
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Basófilos/citología , Basófilos/inmunología , Citometría de Flujo/métodos , Hipersensibilidad/diagnóstico , Hipersensibilidad/inmunología , HumanosRESUMEN
The basophil activation test (BAT) has become a pervasive test for allergic response through the development of flow cytometry, discovery of activation markers such as CD63 and unique markers identifying basophil granulocytes. Basophil activation test measures basophil response to allergen cross-linking IgE on between 150 and 2000 basophil granulocytes in <0.1 ml fresh blood. Dichotomous activation is assessed as the fraction of reacting basophils. In addition to clinical history, skin prick test, and specific IgE determination, BAT can be a 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. Basophil activation test 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.
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Prueba de Desgranulación de los Basófilos , Basófilos/inmunología , Hipersensibilidad/diagnóstico , Hipersensibilidad/inmunología , Algoritmos , Alérgenos/inmunología , Basófilos/metabolismo , Biomarcadores , Citometría de Flujo , Humanos , Tetraspanina 30/metabolismoRESUMEN
INTRODUCTION: Carbon nanotubes as artificial nano-size ranged materials have increasing role in the modern biomedical, diagnostic and therapeutic applications.There is a promising option for their use as more potential drug carriers. Despite the favourable properties, their impact (accumulation, elimination, etc.) on biological systems is largely unknown. The main limiting factor of medical use of nanomaterials in most cases is the potential hypersensitive side effect. It can develop in different route, but the activation of basophil granulocytes may play a central role in this process. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to test the direct activation ability of different, surface modified nanotubes on basophil granulocytes in vitro. In parallel we tested the effectiveness of BasoTest planned to use for this study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using the blood samples of allergic and healthy volunteers we examined the basophil degranulation in the presence of nanotubes and the expression level changes of cell-surface CD63 on FACS Calibur instrument. Our results were compared to positive(fMLP, Mite, Grass) and negative control samples. RESULTS: The test we have chosen proved to be sufficiently sensitive and specific for further study. Significant basophil activation was observed in the presence of carbon nanotubes in healthy persons and allergic patients, as well. The activating effect of nanotubes was more prevailed in allergic population. CONCLUSION: Our experiments have proven the fact that nanotubes may play a role in the development of hypersensitive allergic reactions through their basophil granulocyte activator effect.