The association between HLA class I alleles and measles vaccine-induced antibody response: evidence of a significant association

While the Moraten strain measles vaccine is an excellent, safe, and immunogenic vaccine, vaccine failure occurs, presumably when an individual develops an inadequate immune response. In this study, we examined the association of HLA class I genes and measles vaccine-induced antibody levels. We found that the allele distribution of HLA-B alleles differed between non-responders and hyper-responders (p = 0.002). Sever nl class I alleles were associated with non-response (HLA-B13, -B44, and -C5); whereas several other alleles were associated with hyper-response (HLA-B7 and -B51). In addition, non-responders were more likely to be HLA-B homozygous than normal responders (odds ratio 2.1), and more likely to be homozygous than hyper-responders (odds ratio 3.7, p = 0.031 Mantel-Haenzel for trend). Finally,, we found evidence of an allele dose-response phenomenon for HLA-B7. We conclude that there are important associations between class I HLA genes and measles antibody levels following immunization. (C)1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.