PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Federica Garziano AU - Marialuisa Bocchino AU - Ediva Myriam Borriello AU - Anna Stanziola AU - Claudia La Rocca AU - Fortunata Carbone AU - Francesco Flavio AU - Alessandro Sanduzzi AU - Francesco Perna TI - Real life application of basophil activation test: A real challenge for diagnosis and treatment monitoring of atopy-related diseases? DP - 2012 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - P2390 VI - 40 IP - Suppl 56 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P2390.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P2390.full SO - Eur Respir J2012 Sep 01; 40 AB - Skin prick test (SPT) is widely used for the diagnosis of Immunoglobulin-E (IgE)-mediated allergic diseases. Recently, a flow-cytometry based test assessing the degree of basophil de-granulation upon in vitro allergen challenge has been introduced into clinical practice. The basophil activation test (BAT) is a promising and safe tool as could obviate disadvantages of SPT also allowing testing of uncommon allergens not used in vivo. The objective of the present study was to compare BAT performance with SPT for different aeroallergens. We performed BAT and SPT in 34 adult subjects (14 males and 20 females; age range: 18-60 yrs) presenting with symptoms suggestive of rhinitis/bronchial asthma. Degranulated basophils were identified as CD123+HLA-DR-CD63+ cells. At least 3 of 9 common aeroallergens were tested, including positive and negative controls, for a total of 146 determinations. We found that BAT results were significantly correlated with SPT (r=0.834, p<0.0001). Challenge with non conventional allergens allowed the identification by means of BAT of a case of bronchial asthma and atopic dermatitis who tested positive to Brachionus, Chlorella, and Nannochloropsis. Monitoring of atopic patients undergoing immunotherapy is actually in progress. As alternative to SPT, BAT in its present form is useful for distinguishing atopic from non-atopic patients. Further successful applications may include treatment monitoring and screening/diagnosis of type I hypersensitivity to uncommon allergens.