HUMAN BASOPHIL DEGRANULATION IS NOT TRIGGERED BY VERY DILUTE ANTISERUM AGAINST HUMAN IGE

We have attempted to reproduce the findings of Benveniste and co-worke rs, who reported in 1988 that degranulation of human basophil leukocyt es is triggered by very dilute (10(2)-10(120)) antiserum against IgE. The results were contrary to conventional scientific theory and were n ot satisfactorily explained. Following as closely as possible the meth ods of the original study, we can find no evidence for any periodic or polynomial change of degranulation as a function of anti-IgE dilution . Our results contain a source of variation for which we cannot accoun t, but no aspect of the data is consistent with the previously publish ed claims.