title: The importance of A3 allele in response to hepatitis B vaccine in end-stage renal disease patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hemodialysis (HD) patients are at high risk for hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection due to intravenous interventions and therapies: Our aim was to examine how genetic factors affect the response to HBV vaccination in HD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The frequencies of HLA class I and II alleles were investigated in responders and nonresponders. Response to vaccination was defined as anti-HBsAg > 10 SI U/L (group I). Nonresponders (anti-HBsAg < 10 SI U/L) were defined as group II. The study included HD patients who were negative for antibodies to hepatitis B surface antigen during pretransplantation evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Group I consisting of 166 patients and group II, of 90 patients showed a significantly higher frequency of the HLA A3 allele in group I (n = 20) than group II (n = 3) (P = .02). There were no statistical differences between the two groups regarding age and gender distribution (P > .05). Graft outcome was not different between responders and nonresponders (P > .05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This preliminary study shows that HLA alleles may have immunomodulatory effects in end-stage renal failure patients. The response to hepatitis B vaccination is affected in multifactorially fashion; HLA A3 may be a genetic predictor for responders, but further studies in larger series are required.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Baskent University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: F N
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Micozkadioglu
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Arat
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Turan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gulmus
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haberal
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen / Q000235:genetics*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000097:blood; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic
chemical_list: D015791:HLA-A3 Antigen; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic