Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Young Adult , Anti-HIV Agents/adverse effects , Dideoxynucleosides/adverse effects , Drug Hypersensitivity/genetics , Gene Frequency/genetics , HIV Infections/genetics , HLA-B Antigens/genetics , Anti-HIV Agents/therapeutic use , Brazil/ethnology , Case-Control Studies , Dideoxynucleosides/therapeutic use , Drug Hypersensitivity/ethnology , Genotype , HIV Infections/drug therapy , HIV Infections/ethnology , Real-Time Polymerase Chain ReactionABSTRACT
It has been demonstrated that HLA-B*5701 screening reduces the risk for hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir in HIV-infected patients. Since B*5701 prevalence varies among different populations, it is important to determine the carrier frequency prior to its use for the screening of HIV-infected patients.The aim of this study was to determine HLA-B*5701 carrier frequency in Chilean general population and HIV-infected patients referred for B*5701 typing. For that purpose 300 blood bank donors and 492 abacavir-naïve HIV-infected patients from Chile were screened for B*5701 by a sequence specific primer PCR.We detected 14/300 (4.7 percent) B*57-positive individuals in the Chilean general population, 11 (3.7 percent) were B*5701 positive, and 3 (1 percent) had another subtype.All were heterozygous,thus a B*5701 allele frequency of 2 percent was determined.Eleven of 492 (2.2 percent) HIV-patients carried a B*5701 allele. The difference between these frequencies is probably due to slow progression of HIV infection in HLA-B*5701 carriers, thus less patients would require antiretroviral therapy and B*5701 typing. Considering the usefulness of B*5701 screening, its prevalence in the Chilean general population,and the availability of a validated method,we conclude that HLA-B*5701 typing in Chilean HIV-infected patients about to initiate abacavir treatment is strongly recommended.