The contribution of HLA-Class II antigens in humoral non-response and delayed response to HBsAG vaccination.

The variability in the immune response modulated by HLA alleles may be an important factor for the induction of the protective effect of HBsAg vaccines. We present here the analysis of HLA-DRB1, DQB1 and DQA1 alleles and their combinations in the group of 36 individuals with poor humoral immmune response to HBsAg vaccination. Comparison with the control group, consisted of 60 randomly choosen healthy subjects, revealed that the DRB1*1601, DQB1*0502, DQA1*0102 haplotype is overrepresented in the group of hyporesponders and may therefore be regarded as a factor influencing poor antibody responsiveness. We observed that after revaccination two of three individuals who failed to develop anti-HBs antibodies carry the same phenotype DRB1*0101,DRB1*0301;DQB1*0501,DQB1*0201;DQA1+ ++*0101,DQA1*0501, which supports the conjecture that immunogenicity of the HBsAg vaccine depends on specific combination of HLA DR and DQ molecules on antigen presenting cells.