immunogenicity of hepatitis b vaccine in multi - transfused thalassemic patients with and without hepatitis c infection: a comp ara tive study with heal thy controls

hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection is highly prevalent in thalassemic patients, and this may decrease the serum antibody response to hepatitis b virus (hbv) vaccine. there is also some alteration of the immune system in multi-transfused thalassemic patients, as a consequence of iron overload. we investigated whether hcy infection may reduce the effectiveness of hby vaccine in multi - transfused thalassemic patients. subjects were cited and studied prospectively in three groups: group i: 125 multi-transfused thalassemic patients with negative serum hcy antibody group 2: 96 multi-transfused thalassemic patients with positive serum hcv antibody (elisa ii), in at least 2 different occasions group 3: 100 healthy subjects. matching was performed between three groups in sex, age and body mass index and subjects in all groups had negative serum hbsag, anti-hbc and anti-hbs and received three 20 flgr/dose injections of recombinant hbv vaccine (heberbiovac hb) in months 0, 1, 6. anti-hbs titer was obtained one month after the last dose of vaccine and it was considered seroprotective if it was 2: 10 lull. seroprotection rate was 83.2% in group 1 and 80.2% in group 2 (p=0.74) and was 86% in healthy subjects, which didn't significantly differ with hcv positive and negative thalassemics (p>0.05). moreover, the mean values of alt among the responders and non-responder thalassemic patients were 55.5 ± 4 l .9 and 57.4 ± 48.5 u/l respectively(p=0.802). during vaccination periods, patients in all 3 groups did not show any significant adverse reactions. our study shows that three standard doses of hbv vaccine are immunogenic and safe in multi-transfused thalassemic patients with or without hcv infection.