Rapid and reliable screening of HLA-B*15:02 in four Chinese populations using single-tube multiplex real-time PCR assay

HLA-B*15:02 screening should be performed to prevent antiepileptic drug induced severe cutaneous adverse reactions in populations of Asian origin. This study aimed to develop fast and reliable HLA-B*15:02 genotyping method and to investigate the distribution of HLA-B*15:02 in different Chinese ethnicities. Materials & methods: A single-tube multiplex real-time PCR assay for HLA-B*15:02 genotyping was established by combining allele-specific primers with TaqMan probes. Results: The HLA-B*15:02 genotyping results in Bouyei(n = 100) by the established assay were completely consistent with the corresponding PCR sequence-based typing findings. The percentage of HLA-B*15:02 carrier in Bouyei (19%; n = 100) was significantly higher than those of Han (1%; n = 100), Tibetan (0%; n = 100) and Uyghur (0%; n = 50) populations (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The novel method provides rapid, reliable and cost-effective detection of HLA-B*15:02 allele in clinical applications.