HLA-A*3101 Genetic Polymorphism influencing the Epilepsy treatment

Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) refer to locus of genes encoding proteins present on the surface of white blood cells. They have important role in transplant rejections, Autoimmune disorders, HIV, Cancer and Cutaneous adverse drug reactions (CADRs). CADRs are one of the commonest adverse events in patients taking antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) which often lead to drug discontinuation. The association of HLA, particularly HLA-A* 3101 with CADRs and epilepsy has made us conduct a clinical-genetic study in epileptic patients with the objective of finding the prevalence of HLA-A* 3101 in comparison with non-epileptic patients and also assessing the treatment response and drug safety. This book has detailed reviews related to the biology of HLAs, their association with epilepsy and genotyping of HLA-A* 3101 in addition to the results of the genetic study conducted in epileptic and non-epileptic patients. The authors highlight that the prevalence of HLA-A* 3101 genetic polymorphism is comparatively higher in epileptic patients and resultantly the CADRs are also more in those patients. They also discuss the need for pharmacogenetic screening before starting anti epileptic treatment.