Background: This study examined the significant association between carbamazepine (CBZ)-induced Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and HLA-B*15:02 in epilepsy patients of Han ethnicity living in northeastern China.
Methods: CBZ-SJS/TEN patients and CBZ-tolerant control patients were genotyped for HLA-B*15:02 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-B*15:02 (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-B*15:02 is necessary but is not sufficient to produce SJS/TEN following CBZ treatment among Han individuals from northeastern China. Other HLA alleles, including A*33:03, B*58:01, C*03:02, DQB1*03:03, and DRB1*07:01 may be associated weakly with CBZ-SJS/TEN.
Conclusions: Our results are not consistent with previous studies reporting a strong association between HLA-B*15:02 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-B*15:02 still may be recommended for patients in northeastern China before starting CBZ.