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Frequency of B-Cell Subpopulations in Low Responders in Comparison with High Responders to Hepatitis B Vaccine Among Health Care Workers

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Abstract

Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent Hepatitis B (HB) infection. The goal of vaccination is to induce immunological memory. Hence, determining the frequency of memory B-cell (MBC) subsets is an important indicator of vaccine efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate the frequency of different B-cell subpopulations and the expression of PD-1 on B-cell subsets in low responders (LR) and high responders (HR) to HB vaccine. According to our findings, the expression level of PD-1 was significantly higher on atypical MBC (atMBC) than that of naive B cell and classical MBC (cMBC) in LR and HR groups. Moreover, cMBCs had a significant higher PD-1 expression than naive B cells in LR group. No significant differences were found in the frequency of various B-cell subpopulations and the expression level of PD-1 on B-cell subsets between LR and HR groups. We observed a negative correlation between age and HBsAb titer and a positive correlation between age and PD-1 expression level on cMBC in LR group. It can be concluded that inadequate specific memory B-cell response, rather than total memory B-cell deficiency, may be implicated in low responsive rate to HB vaccine in healthy individuals.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish thank to all the individuals who consented to participate in this study.

Funding

This study was a part of MSc project of Zahra Saleh, Department of Immunology Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and was financially supported by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (Grant no 21740).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box 7134845794, Shiraz, Iran

    Zahra Saleh & Kurosh Kalantar

  2. Shiraz Institute for Cancer Research, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Fereshteh Mehdipour

  3. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Fasa University of Medical Sciences, Fasa, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Ataollahi

  4. Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Jiroft University of Medical Sciences, Jiroft, Iran

    Mohammad Ali-Hassanzadeh

  5. Institute of Immunology, Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel and University Hospital Schleswig, Holstein Campus Kiel, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    Dieter Kabelitz

  6. Autoimmune Diseases Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

    Kurosh Kalantar

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  1. Zahra Saleh
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  2. Fereshteh Mehdipour
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  3. Mohammad Reza Ataollahi
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  4. Mohammad Ali-Hassanzadeh
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Contributions

KK designed the project, ZS performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared all figures and tables, and wrote the manuscript; KK, FM, MA, MH, and DK reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final paper.

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Correspondence to Kurosh Kalantar.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (IR.SUMS.REC.1399.907).

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Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants.

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Saleh, Z., Mehdipour, F., Ataollahi, M.R. et al. Frequency of B-Cell Subpopulations in Low Responders in Comparison with High Responders to Hepatitis B Vaccine Among Health Care Workers. Curr Microbiol 80, 296 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-023-03367-0

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