Reinforced Hepatitis B Vaccine Schedule Fails In Organ Recipients.(Brief Article)

2002 JAN 30 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - A reinforced hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine schedule that is believed to prevent posttransplantation infection in liver transplant recipients has failed in a new Italian study.

Typically, patients who receive liver transplants because of HBV-related liver cirrhosis are placed on long-term regimens of hepatitis B antibodies, or immunoglobulins (HBIg) in order to prevent viral recurrence after they receive their transplants. These regimens are accompanied by the use of immunosuppressive therapy in order to prevent organ rejection.

According to medical researchers in Rome, Italy, at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, a newly reported reinforced vaccine schedule, consisting of 9 doses or more of recombinant HBV vaccine given at designated intervals, failed to produce any significant results in the 17 liver transplant recipients in which it was tested. Mario Angelico and associates in the Departments of Public Health and Surgery performed the vaccine investigation.

All 17 of the patients had already been on long-term immunosuppressive and HBIg therapy, as they had received their liver transplants between 2 to 7 years before enrolling in the vaccine study. The vaccine schedule consisted of 3 doses of vaccine given intramuscularly at monthly intervals during the first cycle, 6 doses given intradermally every 15 days to nonresponders in a second cycle, and, if needed, a third cycle comparable with the first cycle was repeated in nonresponders.

The 17 patients received their first dose of HBV vaccine approximately 4 months after discontinuing HBIg, but they still continued to receive ...