Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress hp
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

BECKMAN COULTER, INC.

Beckman Coulter develops, manufactures and markets laboratory systems, reagents, centrifugation, lab automation, elec... read more Featured Products: More products

Download Mobile App




Basophil Activation Test Predicts Pediatric Wheezing Prognosis

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 20 Jan 2021
Although asthma is a common chronic airway inflammatory disease in children, the natural history of asthma remains unknown. It is difficult to diagnose asthma in children aged under five years because of the complexity of wheezing phenotypes at that age.

Basophils are important immune cells that are involved in allergic diseases including asthma. CD63-based basophil activation tests (BATs) are a useful tool for not only identifying specific allergens, but also monitoring immunologic homeostasis. BATs are used for diagnosing food and drug allergies with high specificity and sensitivity.

A team of Pediatricians at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine (Shanghai, China) conducted a prospective cohort observation trial from July 2017 to March 2018 and enrolled children aged under five years with a convincing history of wheezing episodes (confirmed by the team or documented as “expiratory wheeze” in previous medical records). All enrolled subjects participated in specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) testing. Serum samples were measured via the DX-Blot 45 Automatic Western Blotting instrument (Hangzhou Zhejiang Dixun Biological Genetic Engineering Co., Ltd. Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China).

The scientists collected anti-coagulated peripheral blood and stored at 2–8 °C for up to 6 hours. The Basophil Activation Test Set (Bühlmann Laboratories, Schönenbuch, Switzerland) was used for the BAT. In vitro stimulation was performed using an inhalant mix (Bühlmann Laboratories) that included common inhalation allergens (GX1, G12, T3, T4, W6, W9, M6, D1, D2, E1, and E2) as specific antigens. After processing and the red blood cells were lysed, the cells were resuspended in phosphate-buffered saline and assessed with a CytoFLEX flow cytometer (Beckman Coulter, Brea, CA, USA). The test result was considered positive when the level of CD63 expression in stimulated cells was >15% over the baseline level.

The investigators reported that of the 45 originally enrolled children, 38 completed both the follow-up and a BAT. After stimulation with the inhalant mixture, the CD63 expression on basophils and the rate of positive CD63-based BAT results in children diagnosed with asthma were both significantly higher than those in children who were not diagnosed with asthma. For the prediction of asthma, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value of CD63-based BAT was 71.8 and 69.2%, respectively. The positive likelihood ratio and negative likelihood ratio of CD63-based BAT were 1.70 and 0.3, respectively.

The authors concluded that their study indicates that CD63-based BAT has potential clinical value for predicting asthma outcome in young children with wheezing episodes. The study was published on January 6, 2021 in the journal BMC Immunology.

Related Links:
Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
Hangzhou Zhejiang Dixun Biological Genetic Engineering Co
Bühlmann Laboratories
Beckman Coulter



Gold Member
Antipsychotic TDM Assays
Saladax Antipsychotic Assays
Verification Panels for Assay Development & QC
Seroconversion Panels
New
HIV Test
Anti-HIV (1/2) Rapid Test Kit
New
Vaginitis Test
Allplex Vaginitis Screening Assay
Read the full article by registering today, it's FREE! It's Free!
Register now for FREE to LabMedica.com and get access to news and events that shape the world of Clinical Laboratory Medicine.
  • Free digital version edition of LabMedica International sent by email on regular basis
  • Free print version of LabMedica International magazine (available only outside USA and Canada).
  • Free and unlimited access to back issues of LabMedica International in digital format
  • Free LabMedica International Newsletter sent every week containing the latest news
  • Free breaking news sent via email
  • Free access to Events Calendar
  • Free access to LinkXpress new product services
  • REGISTRATION IS FREE AND EASY!
Click here to Register








Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: The tiny clay-based materials can be customized for a range of medical applications (Photo courtesy of Angira Roy and Sam O’Keefe)

‘Brilliantly Luminous’ Nanoscale Chemical Tool to Improve Disease Detection

Thousands of commercially available glowing molecules known as fluorophores are commonly used in medical imaging, disease detection, biomarker tagging, and chemical analysis. They are also integral in... Read more

Microbiology

view channel
Image: The lab-in-tube assay could improve TB diagnoses in rural or resource-limited areas (Photo courtesy of Kenny Lass/Tulane University)

Handheld Device Delivers Low-Cost TB Results in Less Than One Hour

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the deadliest infectious disease globally, affecting an estimated 10 million people annually. In 2021, about 4.2 million TB cases went undiagnosed or unreported, mainly due to... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The ready-to-use DUB enzyme assay kits accelerate routine DUB activity assays without compromising data quality (Photo courtesy of Adobe Stock)

Sensitive and Specific DUB Enzyme Assay Kits Require Minimal Setup Without Substrate Preparation

Ubiquitination and deubiquitination are two important physiological processes in the ubiquitin-proteasome system, responsible for protein degradation in cells. Deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes contain around... Read more

Technology

view channel
Image: The HIV-1 self-testing chip will be capable of selectively detecting HIV in whole blood samples (Photo courtesy of Shutterstock)

Disposable Microchip Technology Could Selectively Detect HIV in Whole Blood Samples

As of the end of 2023, approximately 40 million people globally were living with HIV, and around 630,000 individuals died from AIDS-related illnesses that same year. Despite a substantial decline in deaths... Read more

Industry

view channel
Image: The collaboration aims to leverage Oxford Nanopore\'s sequencing platform and Cepheid\'s GeneXpert system to advance the field of sequencing for infectious diseases (Photo courtesy of Cepheid)

Cepheid and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Partner on Advancing Automated Sequencing-Based Solutions

Cepheid (Sunnyvale, CA, USA), a leading molecular diagnostics company, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies (Oxford, UK), the company behind a new generation of sequencing-based molecular analysis technologies,... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2025 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.