AN IMMUNODOMINANT HAPTENIC EPITOPE OF CARBAMAZEPINE DETECTED IN SERUM FROM PATIENTS GIVEN LONG-TERM TREATMENT WITH CARBAMAZEPINE WITHOUT ALLERGIC REACTION

An anticarbamazepine antibody was detected in the serum of a patient with severe carbamazepine-induced serum sickness. We found that the patient's T cells and IgG antibody recognized an epitope which appeared in subjects showing an allergic reaction, as well as that in subjects who showed no allergic reaction, after long-term carbamazepine therapy. These results show that an anticarbamazepine immune response does not occur in the majority of subjects who undergo long-term carbamazepine therapy without developing allergic symptoms, although the immunodominant haptenic epitope of carbamazepine is present in their sera.