HLA B*57:01, Abacavir Hypersensitivity HLA Association Test

Whole blood or buccal swabs

7 mL whole blood or four buccal swabs

3 mL whole blood or four buccal swabs

Lavender-top (EDTA) tube or four buccal swabs in a sealed envelope (buccal swab kit). When submitting buccal swabs, please use a buccal swab kit provided by LabCorp. To obtain the buccal swab kit, please telephone 800-533-1037.

Determine the presence of B57 antigen

Even with appropriate precautions, an occasional specimen may not be satisfactory for testing. In such cases, an additional specimen should be collected for testing.

This test was developed, and its performance characteristics determined, by LabCorp. It has not been cleared or approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)/sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (SSOP)

This is a class I allele-specific test.

Abacavir hypersensitivity has been shown to be associated with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) B*57:01 of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The MHC family of genes codes for a highly variable set of cell surface glycoproteins (HLAs) that play a critical role in presenting antigens to T cell receptors to elicit an immune response. The presence of the HLA-B*57:01 allele increases the susceptibility to abacavir hypersensitivity in several populations studied.