title: Inadequate humoral immunogenicity to recombinant hepatitis B virus vaccine in biliary atresia children.
abstract: This study aimed to investigate the primary immunogenicity and the long-term efficacy of recombinant hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine in biliary atresia (BA) children. Fifty BA infants (age, 11 +/- 3.9 mo), and 23 BA patients at childhood (age, 8.5 +/- 0.22 y) were included for the evaluation of HBV surface antibody (anti-HBs) levels after three doses of recombinant HBV vaccine immunization. Age- and gender-matched healthy infants (n = 50) and children (n = 23) were enrolled as the control group. Serum samples of the study populations were collected for HBV seromarkers determination. In the absence of hepatitis B virus core antibody and HBV surface antigen, serum anti-HBs level above 10 IU/L was considered adequate immunogenicity to HBV vaccine. The prevalence of adequate anti-HBs levels after recombinant HBV vaccine in BA infants was significantly lower than those of the controls (p = 0.006). There was no difference in the prevalence between childhood BA patients and their matched controls (p = 0.538). In conclusion, adequate primary humoral immunity after the standard doses of recombinant HBV vaccine in BA infants is hard to establish. However, once immunity is acquired, BA children have adequate anti-HBs titer in the long run.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan, China.
authors.forename: Jia-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yen-Hsuan
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.forename: Huey-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hong-Yuan
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Hong-Shiee
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Mei-Hwei
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000917:Antibody Formation; D001656:Biliary Atresia / Q000276:immunology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies / Q000097:blood*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007115:Immunization Schedule; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D013997:Time Factors; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D006510:Hepatitis B Antibodies; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic