Nonresponse to Hepatitis B Vaccine

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Abstract
Alper and colleagues were able to define genetic markers for a low antibody response to hepatitis B vaccine (Sept. 14 issue).1 Persons who had a low level of hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) after they had been vaccinated three times were homozygous for a specific extended haplotype of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) — HLA-B8,BF*S,C2*C,C4A*Q0,C4B*1, DR3, in which Q0 denoted a null gene. In other words, these subjects were deficient in C4A, one of the two forms of human C4.