Basophils are best studied in the context of allergy, where they have been implicated in several disease mechanisms, such as delayed IgE-mediated chronic allergic inflammation (6, 7), eosinophil entry (8), itch (9), and alternative macrophage activation (10), but also wound healing (11) and microbial dysregulation (12). The gene discussed is IGHE; the disease is Allergy.