Hypersensitivity reactions to carbamazepine: characterization of the specificity, phenotype, and cytokine profile of drug-specific T cell clones." Mol Pharmacol 63(3

Administration of carbamazepine (CBZ) causes hypersensitivity reactions clinically characterized by skin involvement, eosino-philia, and systemic symptoms. These reactions have an im-mune etiology; however, the role of T cells is not well defined. The aim of this study was to characterize the specificity, phe-notype, and cytokine profile of CBZ-specific T cells derived from hypersensitive individuals. Proliferation of blood lympho-cytes was measured using the lymphocyte transformation test. CBZ-specific T cell clones were generated by serial dilution and characterized in terms of their cluster of differentiation and T cell receptor V phenotype. Proliferation, cytotoxicity, and cy-tokine secretion were measured by [3H]thymidine incorpora-tion, 51Cr release, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. HLA blocking antibodies were used to study th