Low responsiveness to a hepatitis B virus vaccine in a Chinese population lacks association with ITGAL, CD58, TNFSF15, CCL15, TGFB3, and BCL6 gene variants

It is known that multiple genetic variants can affect immune responses to the hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine. A case-control study was undertaken to examine the possible association of low responsiveness to the HBV vaccine in a Chinese population with genetic polymorphisms in integrin subunit alpha L, CD58, tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 15, C-C motif chemokine ligand 15, transforming growth factor beta 3, and B-cell lymphoma 6 protein. The copy numbers of these six genes were detected in 129 low responders, 129 middle responders and 129 high responders to HBV vaccination. There were no significant differences in the copy numbers of these six genes between the groups. Thus, these findings indicated that the copy number variations of these genes may not be the reason for the low responsiveness to the HBV vaccine in a Chinese population.