Association between the HLA-B 15:02 allele and carbamazepine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis in Han individuals of northeastern China

Background: this study examined the significant association between carbamazepine (cbz)-induced stevens-johnson syndrome (sjs)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (ten) and hla-b15:02 in epilepsy patients of han ethnicity living in northeastern china. methods: cbz-sjs/ten patients and cbz-tolerant control patients were genotyped for hla-b15:02 by pcr amplification using sequence-specific primers. patients then were evaluated for hla genotypes using pcr with sequence-based typing. results: eight of 35 cbz-sjs/ten patients carried hla-b15:02 (22.9%) versus 2 of 125 in cbz-tolerant control patients (or = 18.222,95% ci = 3.662-90.662,p = 0.000). our results suggest that hla-b15:02 is necessary but is not sufficient to produce sjs/ten following cbz treatment among han individuals from northeastern china. other hla alleles,including a33:03,b58:01,c03:02,dqb103:03,and drb107:01 may be associated weakly with cbz-sjs/ten. conclusions: our results are not consistent with previous studies reporting a strong association between hla-b15:02 and cbz-sjs/ten among individuals from southern,southwestern,and central china. other genes may be more tightly associated with cbz-sjs/ten. screening for hla-b15:02 still may be recommended for patients in northeastern china before starting cbz.copyright © 2013 by institute of pharmacology polish academy of sciences.