Purpose: To investigate the association between HLA class I antigens and Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) with ocular complications in Japanese.
Design: Case-control study.
Methods: We examined the histocompatibility antigen genes HLA-A, -B, and -C of 40 Japanese SJS/TEN patients with ocular complications and 113 healthy Japanese volunteers by polymerase chain reaction amplification and subsequent hybridization with sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (PCR-SSO).
Results: We clarified that HLA-A*0206 is strongly associated with SJS/TEN with ocular complications in the Japanese.
Conclusions: Because this finding is completely different from data reported elsewhere on Taiwanese Han Chinese patients and Caucasian patients, it suggests strong ethnic differences in the HLA-SJS association and points to the need for studies in other ethnic populations in order to obtain a global picture.