Study: New Biomarkers Predict Hep-B Vaccine Effectiveness

Inflammation and B-cell responses can predict whether an older adult’s system will accept or reject a vaccine, according to a new study.

To determine how the aging population responds to certain vaccines, researchers administered 3 vaccines, including one for hepatitis B, to 174 patients who had never been treated for or vaccinated against hepatitis B and recorded the patients’ B-cell and inflammatory responses.
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To conduct their study, researchers separated patients into 2 groups by age. Group 1 consisted of 144 patients who were 65 years old and older, and group 2 consisted of 30 patients who were between 25 and 40 years old.

After analyzing patients’ blood samples, researchers found that only 37% of patients responded positively to the hepatitis B vaccine—those with a higher level of B-cell responses.

On the other hand, patients with weaker responses to the vaccine experienced higher levels of inflammation. They tended to be patients from group 1 (age 65+).

As the first study of its kind, the results will help researchers develop age-targeted vaccinations so that everyone can benefit.

“Accordingly, the predictive gene-expression signatures described herein might allow tailoring of vaccine regimens to older persons predisposed to vaccine hyporesponses,” researchers concluded.

--Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Fourati S, Cristescu R, Loboda A, et al. Pre-vaccination inflammation and B-cell signalling predict age-related hyporesponse to hepatitis B vaccination. Nat Commun. Published online January 8, 2016. doi:10.1038/ncomms10369.