Summary:A previous study conducted in Taiwan found a 100% association between HLA-B * 1502 allele and carbamazepine-induced Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) in Han Chinese subjects, with an extremely high odds ratio compared with carbamazepine-tolerant subjects (odds ratio = 2,504). We examined this association in 24 Hong Kong Han Chinese subjects who had cutaneous adverse reactions induced by different antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). They were matched with 48 AED-tolerant controls. HLA-B * 1502 was associated with severe cutaneous reactions (SCR) induced by AEDs, which included carbamazepine, phenytoin, and lamotrigine (p = 0.001, odds ratio = 17.6), but was not associated with maculopapular exanthema (MPE) (p = 0.32). Further studies in larger samples of ethnically matched subjects should be conducted to confirm the findings. Identification of genetic polymorphisms predisposing to development of AED-induced SCR offers the possibility of avoiding these high-risk drugs in genetically susceptible individuals.

The results of this study provided scientific data to support the efficient and safe use of HC to combat SARS.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a public health concern worldwide. By studying the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) types A, B, DR, and DQ alleles in 90 Chinese patients with serologically confirmed SARS infections, we identified a strong association between HLA-B*0703 (OR, 4.08; 95% CI, 2.03-8.18;[Bonferroni-corrected P p .00072 P value, P c ! .0022]) and -DRB1*0301 (OR, 0.06; 95%, 0.01-0.47;[after Bonferroni correction, ]) P p .00008 P ! .0042 and the development of SARS. Moreover, the frequency of B*0703 and B60 coinheritance (9.6%; 95% CI, 4.6%-19.0%) in our SARS group was significantly higher ( ) Ϫ9 P p 3 ϫ 10 than that expected in the general population (0.4%). These genetic data will critically affect both the study of the pathogenesis of SARS and the design of vaccination programs.

Western countries, prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer of men, and one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in men. Several genome-wide association studies have yielded numerous common variants conferring risk of prostate cancer. In the present study we analyzed 32.5 million variants discovered by whole-genome sequencing 1,795 Icelanders. One variant was found to be associated with prostate cancer in European populations: rs188140481[A] (OR = 2.90, Pcomb = 6.2×10−34) located on 8q24, with an average risk allele control frequency of 0.54%. This variant is only very weakly correlated (r2 ≤ 0.06) with previously reported risk variants on 8q24, and remains significant after adjustment for all of them. Carriers of rs188140481[A] were diagnosed with prostate cancer 1.26 years younger than non-carriers (P = 0.0059). We also report results for the previously described HOXB13 mutation (rs138213197[T]), confirming it as prostate cancer risk variant in populations from all over Europe.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an Epstein -Barr virus-associated disease with high prevalence in Southern Chinese. Using multiparametric flow cytometry, we identified significant expansions of circulating naïve and memory CD4 þ CD25 high T cells in 56 NPC patients compared with healthy age-and sex-matched controls. These were regulatory T cells (Treg), as they overexpressed Foxp3 and GITR, and demonstrated enhanced suppressive activities against autologous CD4 þ CD25À T-cell proliferation in functional studies on five patients. Abundant intraepithelial infiltrations of Treg with very high levels of Foxp3 expression and absence of CCR7 expression were also detected in five primary tumours. Our current study is the first to demonstrate an expansion of functional Treg in the circulation of NPC patients and the presence of infiltrating Treg in the tumour microenvironment. As Treg may play an important role in suppressing antitumour immunity, our findings provide critical insights for clinical management of NPC.