The basophil activation test has high reproducibility between
laboratories and was well integrated in the clinical decision-making
process in a specialised centre
Abstract
Background: The basophil activation test (BAT) has high
accuracy to diagnose peanut allergy (PA) and can reduce the need for
oral food challenges (OFC); however, so far it has not been incorporated
in clinical practice. Methods: We compared two BAT
methodologies, their performance in two separate laboratories, their
diagnostic utility and impact of BAT in clinical-decision-making in a
specialised centre. Results: 102 children being assessed for PA
were tested on BAT (72 allergic, 30 sensitised tolerant). There was
little internal variation (CV<15%) and a very strong
correlation (Rs>0.95) between BAT performed across
laboratories. The 2 BAT methods were correlated but not interchangeable
and 19% of cases had opposite results. The in-house BAT method (IH-BAT)
was superior, as demonstrated by its better diagnostic performance (area
under the ROC curve 0.929/0.957 versus 0.892/0.895 for CD63/CD203c),
lower number of non-responders (4% versus 14%), lower background
basophil activation (4% versus 9%) and less need for oral food
challenges (29/12 versus 37/20 for OFC/positive OFC). BAT was feasible
and well-accepted by clinicians: no patient with positive BAT was
referred for OFC; only 37% of all tested patients needed an OFC and
14% of these (5% of total) reacted during OFC, which corresponded to
72/89% decrease in OFC/positive OFC, respectively, with the integration
of BAT in the diagnostic work-up for peanut allergy.
Conclusions: The BAT is a robust test that can reliably be
transferred between laboratories; however, different BAT methods are not
interchangeable. BAT was well integrated in the clinical decision-making
process in a specialised centre.