Comparative Immunogenicity of Plasma and Recombinant Hepatitis B Virus Vaccines in Homosexual Men
- Nancy Odaka, MHS;
- Lois Eldred, MPH;
- Sylvia Cohn, MPH;
- Alvaro Muñoz, PhD;
- Howard A. Fields, PhD;
- Robin Fox, MS;
- Rachel Solomon, MHS;
- Richard Kaslow, MD;
- B. Frank Polk, MD
- From The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore (Mss Odaka, Eldred, Cohn, and Fox and Dr Muñoz); the Hepatitis Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta (Dr Fields); and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Md (Ms Solomon and Dr Kaslow).
Abstract
A randomized, double-blind clinical trial of plasma-derived and DNA recombinant hepatitis B virus vaccines was conducted in 186 homosexual men. Nine months after the immunization series (three doses) began, the seroconversion rate in the plasma vaccine group was 88% (68/77); this was significantly higher than the 74% (60/81) response rate of the recombinant vaccine group. Men positive for antibody to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) had a considerably higher nonresponse rate to either vaccine than expected in non—HIV-infected homosexual men. The odds ratios of nonresponse to hepatitis B virus vaccine for HIV-seropositive vs HIV-seronegative subjects were 12.0 (95% confidence interval, 1.7to 89.3) and 13.6 (95% confidence interval, 2.3 to 148.3) for the plasma and DNA recombinant vaccines, respectively.
(JAMA 1988;260:3635-3637)
Footnotes
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†Dr Polk died Oct 11,1988.
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Reprint requests to The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 550 N Broadway, Suite 701, Baltimore, MD 21205 (Ms Odaka).
