Abstracts

Rationale: Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) cause severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions, including the Stevens Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B*15:02 in Asian populations and HLA-A*31:01 in North European populations have been identified as predictive markers of hypersensitivity to carbamazepine and potentially other AEDs. Our aim was to estimate the distribution of high risk alleles for AED-induced SJS/TEN in Jewish and Arab populations in Israel.Methods: HLA data from the Hadassah Bone Marrow registry having parenteral country-of-origin (total 63616 Jewish and 20089 Arab Muslim donors) were used for analyzing the HLA-B*15:02 and HLA-A*31:01 allele frequencies.Results: Eighty-one individuals with known origin carried the HLA B*15:02 in the Hadassah bone marrow registry. Among them, 66 were Jews of India-Kuchin descent. The frequency of the B*15:02 allele in this population was found to be 12.7%. Fifteen individuals were of mixed non Ashkenazi Jewish or Arab origin. The frequency was under 0.04% in these populations. The frequency of HLA A*31:01 in the Jewish and Israeli Arab population did not differ from other populations (3.5% and 2.2%, respectively).Conclusions: The high frequency of HLA B*15:02 in the Jewish population from India should be taken into consideration when treatment with AEDs is administered. Until further data on actual risk are available, such patients should be typed for HLA-B before treatment.