Transplant Proc. 2018 Dec;50(10):3681-3688. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2018.07.008. Epub 2018 Jul 7.
Hepatitis B Vaccination in Patients Receiving Oral Antiviral Therapy Without Hepatitis B Immunoglobulin After Liver Transplant.
Wong TCL1, Fung JYY2, Chok KSH1, Cheung TT1, Chan ACY1, Dai WC1, Ng KKC1, Chan SC1, Lo CM3.
Author information
1
Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
2
Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
3
Department of Surgery, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract
Our study aimed to determine if a double-dose pre-S containing hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccination (Sci-B-Vac) could elicit an adequate and sustainable immune response in HBV patients who developed spontaneous hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) response after liver transplant.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
All patients who received transplants for HBV-related disease for >1 year with normal graft function and hepatitis B surface antigen seronegativity were evaluated. They received a 40-μg HBV vaccine if they were responders in our previous vaccine trial, if anti-HBs was positive for >1 year after liver transplant (LT), or if a peak anti-HBs at any time point after LT was >100 mIU/mL. Primary endpoint was the development of anti-HBs ≥ 10 mIU/mL from previous negative value or a 1-log increase from baseline.
RESULTS:
A total of 86 patients were recruited; 5 were responders from a previous trial; 45 patients had detectable anti-HBs >1 year after LT, and 36 patients had an anti-HBs >100 mIU/mL. All (5/5, 100%) previous responders responded to booster vaccination. For the remaining 81 patients, 10 of 81 (12.3%) responded.
CONCLUSION:
All previous responders responded to booster vaccination, implying durability and memory of HBV immune response, which is an important prerequisite for definitive host immunity for HBV. In patients who had spontaneous anti-HBs production after LT, a single vaccination can induce response in 12.3% of patients.