Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Mar 20;25(1):19.
doi: 10.1007/s11882-025-01200-1.

Basophil Activation Test for the Improved Diagnosis of Peanut and Tree Nut Allergy

Orlee Marini-Rapoport  1   2 , Moumita Bhowmik  1   2 , Sarita U Patil  3   4   5
Affiliations
Review

Basophil Activation Test for the Improved Diagnosis of Peanut and Tree Nut Allergy

Orlee Marini-Rapoport et al. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. .

Abstract

Purpose of review: As an ex-vivo test of allergic effector cell activation, basophil activation testing (BAT) to allergen enables quantification of the in-vivo IgE-mediated allergic response. BAT thus holds promise in the diagnosis and monitoring of peanut and tree nut allergies. Recent systematic analyses and expert recommendations support a role for BAT in the diagnosis of peanut and tree nut allergy.

Recent findings: Diagnostic cut-offs for BAT in peanut and tree nut allergy have been identified. Consistently, BAT can discriminate with high sensitivity and specificity between allergy and tolerance when measured against oral food challenges. Furthermore, the utilization of BAT has can increase the sensitivity and specificity of peanut allergy and tree nut allergy diagnosis, both alone and in conjunction with specific IgE testing and skin prick testing. BAT is a promising tool in the diagnosis of peanut and tree nut allergy.

Keywords: Basophil Activation Test; Food Allergy; Peanut Allergy; Tree Nut Allergy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing Interests: OMR and MB declare they have no conflict of interest. SUP has received research grants from (National Institutes of Health, Food Allergy Science Initiative, Buhlmann Laboratories), clinical trial support (Regeneron, Food Allergy Research Education), consulting (Seismic Therapeutics, Mabylon), and royalties (Uptodate). Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent: This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

References

    1. Knol EF, Mul FP, Jansen H, Calafat J, Roos D. Monitoring human basophil activation via CD63 monoclonal antibody 435. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1991;88(3 Pt 1):328–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/0091-6749(91)90094-5 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Christensen LH, Holm J, Lund G, Riise E, Lund K. Several distinct properties of the IgE repertoire determine effector cell degranulation in response to allergen challenge. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2008;122(2):298–304. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2008.05.026 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Santos AF, Riggioni C, Agache I, Akdis CA, Akdis M, Alvarez-Perea A, et al. EAACI guidelines on the diagnosis of IgE-mediated food allergy. Allergy. 2023;78(12):3057–76. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.15902 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Santos AF, Douiri A, Becares N, Wu SY, Stephens A, Radulovic S, et al. Basophil activation test discriminates between allergy and tolerance in peanut-sensitized children. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014;134(3):645–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2014.04.039 . - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Duan L, Celik A, Hoang JA, Schmidthaler K, So D, Yin X, et al. Basophil activation test shows high accuracy in the diagnosis of peanut and tree nut allergy: the markers of nut allergy study. Allergy. 2021;76(6):1800–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/all.14695 . - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources