Review article
Current Laboratory Diagnosis of Allergy
Slavica Dodig
orcid.org/0000-0002-3419-5171
; Srebrnjak Children Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The requests for laboratory diagnosis of allergic diseases refer to a battery of tests that should provide the following: 1) determine the type of allergic reaction by detecting humoral (total IgE) and cellular (eosinophilic and basophilic granulocyte count, eosinophil cationic protein) mediators of allergic reaction; 2) identify triggers of allergic reaction (specific IgE to particular causative allergens, tests for basophilic granulocyte ex vivo activation, leukotrienes, CD63, histamine); 3) assess the clinical course of allergic reaction (tryptase for immediate reaction, eosinophil cationic protein for delayed reaction); 4) enable specific immunotherapy monitoring (total and specific IgE, specific IgG4 and IgG1, IgG4/IgG1 ratio, proallergic and proinflammatory cytokines); and 5) estimate diagnostic efficiency of determination of particular humoral or cellular mediators of allergic reaction (i.e., sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value).
Althouh laboratory investigations are a useful tool in the diagnosis and management of allergic diseases many problems remain unsolved. Those problems can be grouped into three categories: preanalytical (specimen collection), analytical and post-analytical (interpretation, follow-up, retesting) phases of laboratory testing.
Keywords
allergy; IgE; basophils; leukotriene; immunotherapy
Hrčak ID:
22480
URI
Publication date:
21.4.2008.
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