Mast cell activation test in the diagnosis of allergic disease and anaphylaxis

• Published in: Journal of allergy and clinical immunology Vol. 142; no. 2; pp. 485 - 496.e16
• Main Authors: Bahri, Rajia, Custovic, Adnan, Korosec, Peter, Tsoumani, Marina, Barron, Martin, Wu, Jiakai, Sayers, Rebekah, Weimann, Alf, Ruiz-Garcia, Monica, Patel, Nandinee, Robb, Abigail, Shamji, Mohamed H., Fontanella, Sara, Silar, Mira, Mills, E.N.Clare, Simpson, Angela, Turner, Paul J., Bulfone-Paus, Silvia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.08.2018; Elsevier Limited; Mosby
• Subjects: Accuracy; Adolescent; Adult; Airway management; Allergens; Allergens - immunology; Anaphylaxis; Anaphylaxis - diagnosis; Arachis - immunology; basophil activation test; Basophil Degranulation Test; Bees; Blindness; CD63 antigen; Cell activation; Cell Degranulation; Cells, Cultured; Child; Clinical trials; Cohort Studies; Degranulation; diagnosis; Diagnostic software; Dysphagia; Female; Flow cytometry; Food allergies; food allergy; Hemopoiesis; Humans; Immunoglobulin E; Immunoglobulin E - metabolism; Immunologic Tests - methods; Leukocytes (basophilic); Male; mast cell activation test; Mast cells; Mast Cells - physiology; Mats; Medical diagnosis; Patients; peanut allergy; Peanut Hypersensitivity - diagnosis; Penicillin; Peripheral blood; Phenotypes; Pollen; Prostaglandin D2; Public health; Quality of life; Stem cells; Surface activation; Test procedures; Venom; Young Adult; PGD2; mast cell activation test; MAT; sIgE; FDA; ROC; ICC; diagnosis; mast cells; food allergy; AUC; peanut allergy; Anaphylaxis; BAT; MC; PBST; SPT; FPC; basophil activation test; CD-sens; CRTH2; DBPCFC; hMC
• ISSN: 0091-6749; 1097-6825
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaci.2018.01.043

Food allergy is an increasing public health issue and the most common cause of life-threatening anaphylactic reactions. Conventional allergy tests assess for the presence of allergen-specific IgE, significantly overestimating the rate of true clinical allergy and resulting in overdiagnosis and adverse effect on health-related quality of life. To undertake initial validation and assessment of a novel diagnostic tool, we used the mast cell activation test (MAT). Primary human blood-derived mast cells (MCs) were generated from peripheral blood precursors, sensitized with patients' sera, and then incubated with allergen. MC degranulation was assessed by means of flow cytometry and mediator release. We compared the diagnostic performance of MATs with that of existing diagnostic tools to assess in a cohort of peanut-sensitized subjects undergoing double-blind, placebo-controlled challenge. Human blood-derived MCs sensitized with sera from patients with peanut, grass pollen, and Hymenoptera (wasp venom) allergy demonstrated allergen-specific and dose-dependent degranulation, as determined based on both expression of surface activation markers (CD63 and CD107a) and functional assays (prostaglandin D2 and β-hexosaminidase release). In this cohort of peanut-sensitized subjects, the MAT was found to have superior discrimination performance compared with other testing modalities, including component-resolved diagnostics and basophil activation tests. Using functional principle component analysis, we identified 5 clusters or patterns of reactivity in the resulting dose-response curves, which at preliminary analysis corresponded to the reaction phenotypes seen at challenge. The MAT is a robust tool that can confer superior diagnostic performance compared with existing allergy diagnostics and might be useful to explore differences in effector cell function between basophils and MCs during allergic reactions. [Display omitted]