Reproductive Immunology: Open Access

Basophil Activation Test as the Biomarker of Allergic Desensitization

Specific immunotherapy (SIT) is able to modify the natural history of allergic diseases (1). In particular, SIT induces an immunological tolerance against the allergen and clinical control of disease. Clinical efficacy of subcutaneously SIT (SCIT) has been clearly demonstrated (2) as well as sublingual SIT (SLIT) (3), but we need to identify biological markers for SIT in the attempt to reveal patients with high risk of adverse reactions, to monitor the therapy outcome and to predict relapses after SIT discontinuation. We know that both SCIT and SLIT induce a sudden increase of the basophil sensitivity in the first weeks of immunotherapy followed by a gradual decrease over some months (4). The purpose of this study is to evaluate if Basophil Activation Test (BAT) can monitor the progressive desensitization of the patient during SIT.
Author(s):

Gennaro Maietta

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