A study on the clinical application of a direct leukocyte migration test in chromium contact allergy.

A capillary tube leukocyte migration inhibition assay has been adopted as an in vitro method for the demonstration of chromium hypersensitivity in twenty-two subjects with clinically proven or suspected chromium allergy. Two complexes of trivalent chromium and human serum albumin, exerting different migration inhibitory effects, have been prepared and used as the antigen. In the presence of the chromium-albumin complex with strong inhibitory activity, sensitivity to chromium was demonstrated independent of the clinical condition of the skin in all the patch test positive subjects. An additional positive response to the second chromium-albumin complex was observed only in those patients who were clinically in a state of exacerbation of an allergic contact dermatitis in which chromium allergy was an active causative factor. The results were not influenced by skin allergic reactivity to compounds other than chromium and the method was found to be of practical clinical value for diagnosing chromium allergy.