Introduction of pharmacogenetic screening for the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) B*5701 variant in Polish HIV‐infected patients

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Prospective pharmacogenetic screening for the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) B*5701 allele can significantly reduce the number of cases of abacavir-related hypersensitivity among HIV-infected patients treated with this drug. The aim of this study was to establish the frequency of the HLA B*5701 variant in HIV-infected Poles. METHODS: The sequence-specific primer (SSP) test was used to assess the feasibility of the introduction of such testing in clinical practice. For this purpose, 234 randomly selected HIV-positive patients were screened using a low-resolution SSP assay, with HLA B*5701-positive results confirmed using a high-resolution test. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: The HLA B*5701 variant was found in 11 of 234 subjects (4.7%). Testing with the selected method proved quick and reliable.