The effect of HLA on immunological response to hepatitis B vaccine in healthy people: A meta-analysis

Background and aim: Evidence is accumulating that several markers in the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) region have been associated with decreased or increased antibody response to hepatitis B vaccine in different individuals. This meta-analysis is to assess the associations of HLA class II DRB1 and DQB1 alleles with immunologic response to hepatitis B vaccine in healthy people. Methods: A systematic review of cohort studies in healthy people was performed. We searched databases for relevant studies that were published in English or Chinese up to February 17, 2012. Odds ratios (ORs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of HLA alleles response to hepatitis B vaccine were pooled by using of a fixed-effects or random-effects model depending on absence or presence of significant heterogeneity. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: Fifteen studies were included in this meta-analysis after scanning 774 potentially relevant articles. A total of 2308 subjects (including 1215 responders, 873 nonresponders and 220 control populations) were included. For DRB1 alleles, pooled ORs showed that three HLA variants, DRB1*01, DRB1*1301 and DRB1*15 were associated with a significant increase antibody response to hepatitis B vaccine, their pooled ORs were 2.73, 5.94 and 2.29 respectively. While DRB1 *03 (DRB1*0301), DRB1*04, DRB1*07 and DRB1*1302 were opposite, their pooled ORs were 0.55(0.42), 0.57, 0.24 and 0.25 respectively. And for DQB1 alleles, pooled ORs showed that DQB1*05 (DQB1*0501), DQB1*06, DQB1*0602 were associated with a significant increase antibody response to hepatitis B vaccine. Their merger ORs were 1.85, 2.35, 2.34 and 3.32 respectively. While DQB1*02 (pooled OR. = 0.27) was adverse. Sensitivity and specificity analysis of HLA alleles showed that DRB1*1301and DQB1*0602 had high specificity (94.2% and 90.1%) but low sensitivity (25.1% and 26.3%), respectively. Conclusion: It was suggested that specific HLA class II alleles (DRB1 and DQB1) were associated with antibody response to HepB. 2013 The Authors.