Abstract
To elucidate the effects of antigen-specific immunotherapy, the number of nasal surface basophilic cells was investigated. Before and 6 months after immunotherapy treatment, specimens were obtained by scratching the mucosal surface of the inferior nasal concha from 28 patients with perennial nasal allergy and the basophilic cells in these specimens were counted.
The number of basophilic cells decreased in 12 patients and increased in 5 patients. The mean number of surface basophilic cells was 948±635 before treatment and 621±573 after treatment, but the difference was not significant.
Furthermore, there was no significant correlation between the change in number of basophilic cells and the change in intensity of symptoms, the number of eosinophils in peripheral blood, eosinophils in nasal smears or serum IgE levels.
