Human leucocyte antigen association of patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome in Han Chinese
Reviewed by Jonathan Chan

This is a retrospective study of the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) polymorphism pattern of cold medicine-induced patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis (SJS/TEN) (n=33) and 98 control patients recruited between 2016-2017 in Taiwan. Severe ocular complications (SOC) was diagnosed in 26/33 patients by the SOTOZONO grading system. The HLA -A 802:07 carrier frequency was significantly higher than that in controls (p=0.049), as was the genotype frequency (p=0.007). In patients with CM-SJS/TEN with SOCs, the HLA-A 802:07 carrier frequency was higher than that in controls (p=0.0016), as was the allele frequency (p=0.001). In patients with CM-SJS/TEN with SOCs, the HLS-B*46:01 allele frequency was significantly higher than that in controls (p=0.008). This study demonstrates that genetic diversity exists in SJS/TEN pathogenesis among different ethnic groups, which may regulate the severity and outcome of the disease and be a potential predictive diagnostic tool for prognosis.

Human leucocyte antigen association of patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis with severe ocular complications in Han Chinese.
MA KS-K, Chung WH, Hsueh YJ, et al.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
2022;106:610-5.