Bay Biosciences provides sera (serum), plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) biofluid samples from patients diagnosed with chronic idiopathic urticaria.

Moreover, the serum, plasma and PBMCS are processed from patient’s peripheral whole-blood using customized collection and processing protocols.

Furthermore, the samples are collected from unique patients diagnosed with chronic idiopathic urticaria and are provided to a valued pharmaceutical customer for research and drug development.

Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria Overview

Urticaria is a skin condition characterized by hives (wheals), angioedema (swellings), or both. Moreover, there are several types of urticaria. Specifically, urticaria is the medical term for hives. These are itchy reddish bumps, or welts, on your skin, which range in size from small spots to large blotches. Furthermore, dermatologists may call the bumps wheals.

In fact, many people get hives, which are itchy red or skin-colored welts also known as urticaria, defined as a widespread, fugacious, itchy cutaneous swelling. Notably, it is one of the most frequent dermatoses, with its prevalence in the general population estimated about 20%. Additionally, urticaria is regarded as idiopathic in approximately 75% of affected patients.

Usually, they go away quickly. However, for a small number of people, hives come back again and again, with no known cause.

When new outbreaks happen almost every day for 6 weeks or more, doctors call it chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU). In particular, when the hives last for more than six weeks, doctors call them chronic. Furthermore, when the cause is unknown, doctors call them idiopathic.

Interestingly, about 25% of the cases are chronic urticaria (CU). Consequently, hives can be very uncomfortable, interfering with sleep and normal daily activity. Nevertheless, chronic hives don’t pose an immediate risk.

 

Moreover, the sudden appearance of hives can be a sign of an allergic reaction that could lead to anaphylactic shock. Therefore, this is a serious condition that can close off the throat and lead to strangulation.

Signs and Symptoms of Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria

Following are the common signs and symptoms of chronic idiopathic urticaria:

  • First, raised or swollen red welts on the skin (hives or wheals) that last for more than six weeks
  • Next, itching, sometimes severe
  • Finally, Swelling of the lips, eyelids, or throat (angioedema)

The hives may change size, fade, and reappear. Heat, exercise, or stress may aggravate the symptoms.

Some patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria report various associated systemic symptoms. These include:

Causes of Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria

Chronic idiopathic urticaria is caused by a combination of factors, it is not an allergy and is not contagious. Causes may include something in the environmental irritants, the immune system, and persons genetic makeup. It can also be a response to a bacterial, fungal, or viral infection. Chronic idiopathic urticaria involves activation of the immune response system. It also affects the nerve hormone and the clotting processes in your blood.

Hives (wheals) are developed due to release of chemical mediators from tissue mast cells and circulating basophils. These chemical mediators include histamine, platelet-activating factor and cytokines. The mediators activate sensory nerves and cause dilation of blood vessels and leakage of fluid into surrounding tissues. Bradykinin release causes angioedema.

The immune, arachidonic acid, and coagulation systems involve researchers, and scientists are investigating genetic mutations.

Chronic spontaneous urticaria is mainly idiopathic (cause unknown). An autoimmune disease cause is likely. About half of investigated patients carry functional IgG autoantibodies to immunoglobulin IgE or high-affinity receptor FcεRIα.

Following factors may trigger chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) causing an outbreak of hives:

  • Alcohol consumption or certain foods
  • Infection 
  • Pain medications
  • Stress
  • Exposure to heat or cold
  • Exposure to sunlight 
  • Exercise
  • Pressure on your skin from wearing tight clothing
  • Scratching
  • Insects, bugs or parasites

Thyroid Link Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria

Chronic urticaria may be a symptom of a thyroid problem, this is more common in women patients. Studies suggests that  some patients with chronic urticaria had thyroid (anti-TPO) antibodies in their blood. Some of these women patients were found to have hyperthyroidism and were treated for it. Anti-TPO antibodies may also indicate the presence of an autoimmune thyroid disease, such as Graves disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

Diagnosis of Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria

Chronic urticaria is diagnosed in patients with a long history of daily or episodic hives (wheals) that last less than 24 hours, with or without angioedema.

A healthcare provider should elicit a family history. A clinician should undertake a thorough physical examination to evaluate the cause. Inducible urticaria often confirms itself by inducing the reaction, such as scratching the skin in dermatographia or applying an ice cube in suspected cold urticaria.

There are no routine diagnostic tests in chronic spontaneous urticaria apart from blood count and C-reactive protein (CBC, CRP), but investigations may be undertaken if an underlying disorder is suspected.

  • The autologous serum skin test is sometimes carried out in chronic spontaneous urticaria, but its value is uncertain. It is positive if an injection of the patient’s serum under the skin causes a red weal.
  • Investigations for a systemic condition or autoinflammatory disease should be undertaken in urticaria patients with fever, joint or bone pain, and malaise.
  • Patients with angioedema without hives (wheals) should be asked if they take ACE–inhibitor drugs and should be tested for complement C4; C1-INH levels, function and antibodies; and C1q.
  • Biopsy of urticaria can be non-specific and difficult to interpret. The pathology shows edema in the dermis and dilated blood vessels, with a variable mixed inflammatory infiltrate. Vessel-wall damage indicates urticarial vasculitis.

Treatment of Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria

The main treatment for chronic urticaria is oral over the counter (OTC) antihistamines (allergy medication), these are usually the first-line of treatment for chronic hives. If the standard dose (eg, 10 mg for cetirizine) is not effective, the dose can be increased fourfold (eg, 40 mg cetirizine daily). There is not thought to be any benefit from adding a second antihistamine.

Non-drowsy over the counter (OTC) antihistamines with less side effects include:

  • Cetirizine (Zyrtec)
  • Loratadine (Claritin)
  • Fexofenadine (Allegra)
  • Desloratadine (Clarinex)

If your hives don’t clear up with over the counter (OTC) antihistamines, your doctor may try one or more other types of the following treatments:

  • H2 blockers: These are drugs that block the production of histamines that can cause hives or overproduction of stomach acids. Common versions are ranitidine (Zantac), cimetidine (Tagamet HB), and famotidine (Pepcid).
  • Short-term oral corticosteroids, such as prednisone: These are especially useful for reducing the swelling around eyes, lips, or throat (angioedema) that can accompany hives.
  • Antidepressants, such as doxepin cream (Zonalon).
  • Immune suppressants: These include cyclosporine (Gengraf, Neoral) and tacrolimus (Astagraft XL, Prograf).
  • Monoclonal antibodies: Omalizumab (Xolair) is an expensive, newer drug that has proved to be very effective against chronic idiopathic urticaria. It’s typically injected once a month.

In one study, over 80 % of the patients with chronic urticaria had a complete remission after treatment with omalizumab. However, symptoms returned within four to seven weeks after the drug was stopped.

Biospecimens

biospecimens

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in providing researchers with high quality, clinical grade, fully characterized human tissue samples, bio-specimens, and human bio-fluid collections.

Moreover, human biospecimens are available including tumor tissue, serum, plasma and PBMC samples from most other therapeutic areas.

Furthermore, Bay Biosciences maintains and manages its own biorepository, the human tissue bank (biobank) consisting of thousands of diseased samples (specimens) and likewise normal healthy donors for controls. Additionally, available in all formats and types.

In fact, our biobank procures and stores fully consented, de-identified and institutional review boards (IRB) approved human tissue samples, human biofluids such as serum samples, plasma samples from various diseases and matched controls.

Also, all our human tissue collections, human biospecimens and human biofluids are provided with detailed, samples associated patient’s clinical data.

In fact, this critical patient’s clinical data includes information relating to their past and current disease, treatment history, lifestyle choices, biomarkers, and genetic information.

Additionally, researchers find the patient’s data associated with the human biospecimens extremely valuable and use it to help identify new effective treatments (drug discovery & development) in oncology, as well as in other therapeutic areas and diseases.

Bay Biosciences banks wide variety of human tissue samples and human biological samples, including fresh frozen human biospecimens cryogenically preserved at – 80°C.

For example fresh frozen tissue samples, tumor tissue samples, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE), tissue slides, with matching human bio-fluids, whole blood and blood-derived products such as human serum, human plasma and human PBMCs.

Bay Biosciences is a global leader in collecting and providing human tissue samples according to the specified requirements and customized, tailor-made collection protocols.

Please contact us anytime to discuss your special research projects and customized human tissue sample requirements.

Types of Biospecimens

Bay Biosciences provides human tissue samples (human specimens) and human biofluids from diseased and normal healthy donors which includes:

Moreover, we can also procure most human biospecimens and human biofluids, special collections and requests for human samples that are difficult to find. All our human tissue samples and human biofluids are procured through IRB-approved clinical protocols and procedures.

In addition to the standard processing protocols, Bay Biosciences can also provide human biofluids such as  human plasma, human serum, and human PBMCs bio-fluid samples using custom processing protocols; you buy donor-specific collections in higher volumes and specified sample aliquots from us.

Bay Biosciences also provides human biospecimens from normal healthy donors; volunteers, for controls and clinical research, Contact us Now.