Association of HLA-B*1502 allele with lamotrigine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis in Han Chinese subjects: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

Despite several studies investigating the association between the human leukocyte antigen HLA-B*1502 allele and lamotrigine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) in Han Chinese subjects, the relationship remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to ascertain the association between the HLA-B*1502 allele and lamotrigine-induced SJS and TEN in Han Chinese populations.

METHODS

We searched the biomedical literature archived in the MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and China Science and Technology Journal databases. Only studies investigating the association between HLA-B*1502 and lamotrigine-induced SJS/TEN were included. We then performed a meta-analysis of the data in these studies.

RESULTS

Four studies including a total of 12 patients with SJS/TEN and 128 lamotrigine-tolerant control subjects were identified. The HLA-B*1502 allele was present in 33.3% (four of 12) of lamotrigine-induced SJS/TEN cases but in only 9.4% (12 of 128) of lamotrigine-tolerant controls. The occurrence of SJS/TEN was thus associated with the presence of the HLA-B*1502 allele (odds ratio: 4.98, 95% confidence interval 1.43-17.28; P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

We found a statistical association between HLA-B*1502 and lamotrigine-induced SJS/TEN in Han Chinese subjects. Future studies with larger sample sizes are suggested to verify the results.