Hives, redness of the skin, itching or swelling, nausea, vomiting, sudden back pain or shortness of breath with wheezing in the chest as if one were an asthmatic patient are some of the reactions that cancer patients who are allergic to chemotherapy have. Mild or moderate allergic reactions to chemotherapy affect 12-15% of those who receive this treatment, and 5% have a severe allergy (anaphylaxis). These figures have experienced a notable increase due to the increasing use of this therapy, motivated in turn by the increase in the prevalence of some types of cancer in recent years.
When this occurs, the situation is extremely complicated, since these patients need the best treatment to combat the cancer they suffer from. That is why an accurate diagnosis is essential, since if the allergy is confirmed, the protocol is to avoid the suspected drug and move on to a second-line treatment, which is less effective and more toxic, with the consequent impact on the quality and life expectancy of the patients.
Another option is desensitization , a procedure followed in specialized units of some hospitals and clinics and which consists of creating a temporary tolerance to the drug thanks to its progressive administration until reaching the therapeutic dose. This option is of great interest in oncology, since it allows first-line oncological treatments to be maintained. However, it is not without risks.
The key is to obtain an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible, thus avoiding procedures such as provocation tests in the greatest number of patients.
A multidisciplinary team from the Biomedical Research Institute of Malaga and the Nanomedicine Platform (IBIMA Plataforma Bionand) have been working on this for years. This week they presented the results of a research project that shows the usefulness of the basophil activation test, which is performed on a blood sample, in the diagnosis of hypersensitivity reactions to platinum salts and taxanes in a broad population of patients.
The study, published in the international journal Allergy , indicates that this test is a promising tool for diagnosing allergic reactions caused by specific antibodies to platinum salts, which can detect up to 80% of these patients without any risk.
“The results obtained in this work support the future inclusion of this method in the routine diagnostic procedure, since its use in daily clinical practice would have avoided the need to perform a provocation test in all patients with a positive basophil activation test, which could translate into a direct benefit for patients, who will have an accurate diagnosis following a safer procedure,” said María José Torres and Cristobalina Mayorga, from the Drug and Allergen Allergic Diseases group and directors of the research, according to EP.