title: No evidence for occult HBV infection in hepatitis B vaccine non-responders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although hepatitis B vaccine immunogenicity is high, certain risk factors such as age, tobacco consumption, obesity and genetic background have been associated with low responsiveness to HBV vaccine. We aimed to evaluate the role of occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in non-responder adults to HBV vaccine in a low endemic area for HBV.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 52 subjects who were non-responder to HBV vaccine were enrolled in the study. HBsAg, anti-HBs and anti-HBc were tested in all subjects. The presence of HBV-DNA was determined in plasma samples by real-time PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 52 cases with median age 34 years were enrolled in the study. 63.5% of patients were male and 36.5% were female. Isolated anti-HBc (HBsAg negative, anti-HBs negative and anti-HBc positive) was detected in 3.8% of cases. HBV-DNA was not detected in our cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed no evidence of occult HBV infection in our HBV vaccine non-responders even in cases with isolated anti-HBc.
authors.affiliation: Hepatitis and AIDS Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Aghasadeghi
authors.affiliation: Iranian Society for Support of Patients with Infectious Diseases, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Banifazl
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Arezoo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aghakhani
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eslamifar
authors.affiliation: Hepatitis and AIDS Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Rouhollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vahabpour
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Department, Pasteur Institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Amitis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramezani
keywords: HBV; HBV core antibody; HBV vaccine non-responders; Occult HBV infection
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