Positivity of autologous serum skin test in patients with alopecia areata and vitiligo and in healthy individuals

Abstract

Background and Design: Autologous serum skin test (ASST), the best in-vivo test displaying in vitro basophil histamin releasing activity, is used in the diagnosis of chronic autoimmune urticaria. Besides, it is cheap and is easy to perform. It has been found that in ASST-positive chronic urticaria patients, autoimmune thyroid disease especially and other autoimmune diseases were more common and the level of autoimmune markers were higher compared to others. Autoimmunity is accused in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata and vitiligo. In this study, we assessed ASST results in healthy controls and those with autoimmune diseases, and aimed to explore the effects of thyroid autoantibodies and other factors in ASST positivity. Materials and Methods: ASST was administered to 51 patients with alopecia areata, 53 patients with vitiligo and 51 healthy controls, and thyroid function tests and thyroid autoantibodies (anti-Tg, anti-TPO) were assessed. Results: ASST was positive in 64.7% of patients with in alopecia areata, 64.2% of those with vitiligo and in 45.1% of controls. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of ASST positivity. We observed that ASST positivity had no relationship with age, anti-Tg, anti-TPO and the presence of one or both autoantibody positivity. It was seen that the frequency of ASST positivity was higher in females than in men in all groups, but it was statistically significant in alopecia areata group only. Among the all study groups, the frequency of ASST positivity was statistically significantly higher in females than in men.

Rationale for the autologous serum skin test in acute versus chronic urticaria

“…Actually, it has been known that ASST is not specific for CSU. For example, Güven et al found ASST positivity in patients with alopecia and vitiligo [10]. Its sensitivity and specificity was reported as approximately 70-80% [11].…”