Demonstration of reaginic antibodies on human basophils by immune adherence to allergen‐coated Sepharose beads

Abstract

Human basophils purified by gradient density centrifugation and differential glass bead adherence were interacted with grass pollen allergen in particulate form prepared by covalent coupling of Dactylis glomerata protein concentrate to Sepharose beads. Basophils from allergic subjects were found to interact specifically with the allergen‐coated bead surface in a manner so highly characteristic that false negatives with basophils from non‐allergic subjects or subjects with unrelated allergies were not encountered. Microscopic examination indicated that the specifically stained malleable basophils had adapted in a multi‐point attachment to the rigid bead surface by becoming one‐sidedly flattened against it. When using basophils from highly pollen sensitive subjects all the beads carried basophils and sometimes as many as thirty per bead. The percentage of beads with basophils and the number of basophils per bead roughly correlated with clinical history and skin tests. Immunocytoadherence of the basophils to the allergen‐coated beads was specifically inhibited by anti‐IgE and anti‐allergen antibodies, including reagins.