The HCP5 single-nucleotide polymorphism:: A simple screening tool for prediction of hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir

The HLA-B* 5701 allele is predictive of hypersensitivity reaction to abacavir, a response herein termed ABC-HSR. This study of 1103 individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus assessed the usefulness of genotyping a HCP5 single-nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP), rs2395029, in relation to ABC-HSR. In populations with European ancestry, rs2395029 is in linkage disequilibrium with HLA-B* 5701. The HCP5SNPwas present in all 98 HLA-B* 5701 -positive individuals and was absent in 999 of 1005 HLA-B* 5701 -negative individuals. rs2395029 was overrepresented in 25 individuals with clinically likely ABC-HSR, compared with its frequency in 175 ABC-tolerant individuals (80% vs. 2%, respectively; P<. 0001). Therefore, HCP5 genotyping could serve as a simple screening tool for ABC-HSR, particularly in settings where sequence-based HLA typing is not available.