ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the relationship between immunoglobulin E (IgE) aggregation and some of the biological responses of basophils and mast cells. It focuses on human basophils. When human basophils where passively sensitized with either IgE-dimers or -trimers they released histamine. A necessary requirement for histamine release from human basophils is the presence of calcium in the external medium. IgE-mediated desensitization of human basophils can be either antigen specific or antigen nonspecific. Specifically desensitized human basophils release normally to non-crossreacting antigens or anti-IgE. Nonspecifically desensitized human basophils release normally when exposed to the calcium ionophore A23187. To understand the role of specific desensitization, at least in the model, it is useful to consider a hypothetical mutant basophil that lacks the ability to specifically desensitize. The existence of basophils and mast cells, with specific IgE bound to their Fcϵ; receptors, has allowed both experimental and theoretical biologists to test their ideas about the role of antibody aggregation in cell activation and desensitization.
