CHRONIC AUTOIMMUNE URTICARIA: MECHANISMS AND DIAGNOSTIC TESTS

Abstract

A lot of patients with chronic urticaria have functional autoantibodies against high-affinity immunoglobulin E receptor or against immunoglobulin E, which induce histamine release from basophils and cutaneous mast cells. At present, intracutaneous autologous serum skin test, followed by in vitro basophil histamine-release assay, remains the „gold standart“ for diagnosis. More recently basophil activation tests have been proposed as anew diagnostic tool for chronic autoimune urticaria.