Patent ID: 8236514

Claim:
A method for diagnosing auto-immune chronic urticaria in a patient, the method comprising: reacting a serum sample from the patient with donor basophils and associated leukocytes obtained from an individual donor; measuring histamine released by the donor basophils and associated leukocytes in response to the patient serum; using the measured histamine released to calculate a CU index score, wherein the CU index is represented by the following formula: (α/β)=CU Index, wherein α is the amount of histamine released by the donor basophils and associated leukocytes in response to the patient serum, and β is a normalized baseline of histamine release, wherein the normalized baseline of histamine release is a mean percentage plus 1 or more standard deviations thereof of histamine released by the donor basophils and associated leukocytes following challenges with control sera obtained from serum donors that do not exhibit clinical symptoms of chronic urticaria; wherein the CU index score is an indicator of a diagnosis of auto-immune chronic urticaria in the patient; and providing information to a physician to facilitate diagnosis of auto-immune chronic urticaria in the patient based on the CU index score.