Genome-wide association study using the ethnicity-specific Japonica array: identification of new susceptibility loci for cold medicine-related Stevens-Johnson syndrome with severe ocular complications.

A genome-wide association study (GWAS) for cold medicine-related Stevens-Johnson syndrome (CM-SJS) with severe ocular complications (SOC) was performed in a Japanese population. A recently developed ethnicity-specific array with genome-wide imputation that was based on the whole-genome sequences of 1070 unrelated Japanese individuals was used. Validation analysis with additional samples from Japanese individuals and replication analysis using samples from Korean individuals identified two new susceptibility loci on chromosomes 15 and 16. This study might suggest the usefulness of GWAS using the ethnicity-specific array and genome-wide imputation based on large-scale whole-genome sequences. Our findings contribute to the understanding of genetic predisposition to CM-SJS with SOC.