title: A positive serum basophil histamine release assay is a marker for ciclosporin-responsiveness in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria.
abstract: The electronic records of 398 patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) who had had a serum basophil histamine release assay (BHRA) performed as a marker of functional autoantibodies were audited. The BHRA was positive in 105 patients (26.4%). Fifty eight were treated with ciclosporin because they were H1 anti-histamine unresponsive. CSU patients with a positive BHRA were more likely to respond clinically (P<0.001) and to have raised thyroid autoantibodies (P<0.02) than those with a negative BHRA. The BHRA offers a useful predictive biomarker for a good response of H1 antihistamine-unresponsive CSU patients to ciclosporin.
authors.affiliation: St John's Institute of Dermatology, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK. clive.grattan@nnuh.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Kamran
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iqbal
authors.forename: Kapil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhargava
authors.forename: Per Stahl
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Skov
authors.forename: Sidsel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Falkencrone
authors.forename: Clive Eh
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Grattan