Association between HLA-A3201 allele and oxcarbazepine-induced cutaneous adverse reactions in Eastern Han Chinese population

•Adverse reaction potential to the anti-epileptic drug oxcarbazepine (OXC) is unclear.•Associations of OXC-induced cADRs with HLA-A, -B, -C, and -DRB1 were examined.•HLA-A*3201 may confer higher susceptibility to OXC-induced cADRs.•Eastern Han Chinese patients should be screened for HLA-A*3201 before OXC treatment. To determine genetic associations between oxcarbazepine (OXC)-induced cutaneous adverse drug reactions (cADRs) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) variants in the Eastern Han Chinese population. A total of 120 patients were enrolled in this study, including 30 subjects with OXC-induced cADRs (case group) and 90 OXC-tolerant patients (control group). High-resolution HLA genotyping was conducted for HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, and HLA-DRB1, and allele frequencies were compared. No patient carried the HLA-B *1502 allele in the case group, the frequency of HLA-B *1502 allele in the control group was 6.1%. HLA-A*3201 allele was detected in 13.3% of 30 patients with OXC-induced cADRs (4/30) and 0% of 90 OXC-tolerant patients (0/90). The difference in HLA-A*3201 frequency between the two groups was statistically significant [P = 0.004, odds ratio (OR) = 15.877, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.817-138.720]. Eastern Han Chinese patients with the HLA-A*3201 allele may be more susceptible to OXC-induced cADRs, while the HLA-B*1502 allele is not correlated with it. The precise association between HLA alleles and OXC-induced cADRs warrants further study.