[Interferon-gamma (IFN) induced by purified hepatitis B surface antigen (HBSAG) in HBV vaccines]

Interferon-gamma (IFN gamma) induced by purified hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was used to detect specific cellular immune response in HBV vaccine. Results show that there were anti-HBs response as well as IFN gamma response in most subjects during HBV vaccination. However the humoral immune response did not parallel with the cellular immune response. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of most anti-HBs seropositive subjects had IFN gamma response to HBsAg. The titer of HBsAg-stimulated IFN gamma was significantly increased five days after the second immunization of the vaccine in anti-HBs seropositive subjects. HBsAg-stimulated lymphoblast transformation was also studied in those vaccinees. Only one vaccine showed a weak positive response. Therefore, it seems that the method of HBsAg-stimulated IFN gamma response is more sensitive than HBsAg-stimulated lymphoblast transformation.