Dictionary of Allergies .. Basotest©

Basotest©. Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated hypersensitivity reactions to neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBA) are common and life threatening. Basophil activation based upon the expression of CD63 in the presence of specific allergens was found to be of importance for the diagnosis of IgE-mediated hypersensibility [1]..

Basotest© allows the quantitative determination of basophil degranulation in heparinized human whole blood. It contains the chemotactic peptide N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP) as positive control, important allergens, a two-colour antibody reagent for assessing the activation of human basophilic granulocytes and necessary reagents. It determines the percentage of basophilic granulocytes which have degranulated after incubation with allergen or fMLP . Basotest© is intended for investigation of allergen induced activation of basophilic granulocytes. Basotest may be useful for the diagnosis of NMBA allergy in patients with a suspicion of recent IgE-mediated hypersensitivity reaction to NMBA [2].

1. Aly Hassan I. M, et al: .Basotest® and suxamethonium allergy. Allergy 2001: 56(10):1016.

2. Kvedariene V, Kamey S, Ryckwaert Y, Rongier M, Bousquet J, Demoly P, Arnoux B. Diagnosis of neuromuscular blocking agent hypersensitivity reactions using cytofluorimetric analysis of basophils. Allergy. 2006 Mar;61(3):311-5