Understanding Poor Vaccine Responses to Hepatitis B Vaccination

Vaccines have prevented countless infections but poor vaccine responses remain a major challenge in many scenarios. Hepatitis B vaccine nonresponses are common but immunologically not well-understood. This study aims to study the immunology of hepatitis B vaccine responses by comparing traditional HBV vaccine, which is associated with nonresponses in some patients, to CpG-adjuvanted HBV vaccine, which is associated with far fewer rates of nonresponses. This research will build upon prior studies of the human immune response to infection to gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of these responses. This information will be broadly useful as many vaccine candidates fail due to lack of immunogenicity, potentially enabling improved vaccine design and better protection.

Subjects receiving CpG-adjuvanted HBV vaccine will require two doses at 0 and 1 month after initiation. The second dose will be considered the same as the one month time point following the first dose.

Subjects receiving traditional HBV vaccine series will require three doses at 0, 1, and 6 months after initiation. The second dose will be considered the same as the one month time point following the first dose.

Weak vaccine response is defined as Hepatitis B surface antigen antibodies <= 10 mIU/mL (i.e. plasma anti-Hepatitis B surface antibody titer that is undetectable or below the cuff)

Inclusion Criteria: At least 18 years of age Must be able to understand and sign the Informed Consent Form (ICF) Exclusion Criteria: Known chronic HBV infection Pregnancy Known clinically significant anemia or contraindication to phlebotomy; i.e., anti-coagulation therapy or clinically significant thrombocytopenia Any condition that, in the opinion of the Investigator, would make study participation unsafe or would interfere with the objectives of the study Use of immune-suppressing medications in the 30 days prior to enrollment HIV/AIDS patients will be included in the study as these patients often have poor responses to HBV vaccine.

Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices) will be shared upon reasonable request.

Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication or as required by a condition of awards and agreements supporting the research.

The investigator who proposed to use the data will have access to the data upon reasonable request. Requests should be directed to ramin.herati@nyulangone.org. To gain access, data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement.