An in vitro assay system as a potential replacement for the histamine sensitisation test for acellular pertussis based combination vaccines.

The histamine sensitisation test (HIST) for pertussis toxin is currently an official batch release test for acellular pertussis containing combination vaccines in Europe and North America. However, HIST, being a lethal endpoint assay, often leads to repeated tests due to large variations in test performance. Although a more precise HIST test based on measurement of temperature reduction after the histamine challenge is used in Asian countries, this test still uses animals. An in vitro test system based on a combination of enzyme coupled-HPLC and carbohydrate-binding assays with results analysed by a mathematical formula showed a good agreement with the in vivo HIST results based on measurement of temperature reduction after histamine challenge. The new in vitro test system was shown to be a potential alternative to the current in vivo HIST.