Patent ID: 8609432

Claim:
A method to monitor an individual's response to treatment of autoimmune chronic urticaria, wherein the individual has previously been diagnosed as having autoimmune chronic urticaria, the method comprising: a) contacting cells with a test biological sample from the individual before administering the treatment, wherein the cells are capable of expressing CD203c and FcεRIα, and upregulate the expression of CD203c upon stimulation of the FcεRIα, and wherein the cells are provided as present in a whole blood sample from a donor or as present in peripheral blood cells from a donor; b) contacting cells with a test biological sample from the individual after administering the treatment, wherein the cells are capable of expressing CD203c and FcεRIα, and upregulate the expression of CD203c upon stimulation of the FcεRIα, and wherein the cells are provided as present in a whole blood sample from a donor or as present in peripheral blood cells from a donor; and c) detecting expression of CD203c on the cells from steps (a) and (b), wherein statistically significant upregulation of CD203c on the cells in the presence of the test biological sample before administering the treatment, as compared to CD203c expression on the cells in the presence of the test biological sample after administering the treatment, indicates that the individual is responding to the treatment; wherein the upregulation of CD203c occurs due to stimulation of FcεRIαby functional anti-FcεRIα autoantibodies present in the test biological sample, and wherein the test biological sample is a fluid sample.