The use of basophil activation tests in clinical-laboratory investigations in patients with beta-lactam allergy (pilot study)

BACKGROUND: Beta (beta)-lactam antibiotics (BLAs) are the first-line therapy for non-nosocomial and nosocomial bacterial infections and are most commonly reported to cause allergic reactions. Approximately 50% of all allergic patients in Europe and the USA suffer from drug allergies and BLA allergies. The AIM of the study was to assess cross-reactivity reactions between 2nd and 3rd generation cephalosporins in patients with a medical history of BLA reactions and the risk of adverse reactions to BLAs based on the results of the basophil activation test. MATERIALS AND METHODS: we examined 48 females and 8 males (in all 56 patients) aged 26 to 61 with primary reactions to BLAs and 24 healthy volunteers (control group). 19 (34%) patients were treated with amoxicillin, 18 (32,1%) patients were receiving amoxicillin+clavulanic acid, 6 (10,7%) patients were treated with cefuroxime, and 13 (23,2%) patients with ceftriaxone. Quantitative determination of the CD63 marker of basophil degranulation upon antigen stimulation in whole blood was performed with the use of Flow CAST (FK-CCR) (Buhlmann Laboratories AG, Switzerland). Based on the obtained BAT results, the patients were divided into two subgroups: the first group included 33 patients with positive stimulation index but lower CD63 expression (<10%), and the second group included 15 patients with a significantly higher level of CD63 expression (>10 %). THE RESULT: We showed that patients from the second subgroup had the highest level of CD63 expression and stimulation index when amoxicillin, whereas the level of CD63 expression and stimulation index were lower whith ceftriaxone; at the same time, the level of CD63 expression and stimulation index were the lowest with cefuroxime. The patients who treated with and reacted to amoxicillin, as shown by high BAT, also had high CD63 expresiion after ceftriaxone and cefuroxime stimulation. In the first subgroup, urticarial and bronchospasm disappeared within 3 hours of the onset of symptoms in 51.5% of patients, the symptoms persisted for 2-3 days in 42.4% of patients with urticaria and angioedema, whereas maculopapular exanthema persisted for more than a week in 6.1% of the patients. Patients from the first subgroup (with low CD63 expression) had a weak reaction to the culprit antibiotic. Patients from the second subgroup had the strongest reaction to culprit antibiotics: anaphylaxis - 60.0%; Stevens-Johnson syndrome - 6.7%. We established that in patients with hypersensitivity to antibiotics the higher the baseline test scores after in vitro stimulation, the more severe clinical symptoms. CONCLUSION: for patients with clinical manifestations of BLA in case of conflicting anamnesis data, it is recommended to establish true sensitization to antibiotics and to predict the occurrence of cross-reactions