Long term persistence of T cell memory to HBsAg after hepatitis B vaccination

Table 1 Lymphocyte proliferation to HBsAg in controls and vaccine recipients

Group	n	anti-HBs Titer	Net count	T cell	ConA	Tetanus +
		(IU/L)	(mean)	proliferation positive	stimulation (mean ± SD)	diphtheria (mean ± SD)
1	9	unvaccinated	252a	0/9 (0%)	61 000 ± 29 058	19075 ± 13 688
2	12	≤ 10	2 810a,b	7/12 (58%)	55 203 ± 25 071	10651 ± 7 533
3	6	11-100	4 718b	6/6 (100%)	35 273 ± 33 140	19448 ± 16 171
4	13	> 100	12 167	13/13	40 668 ± 20 695	21266 ± 17 025

net count = mean cpm of medium,

^aP-value of statistical comparison of net counts of group II (anti-HBs ≤10 IU/L) with group I (unvaccinated control): P = 0.0093,

^bP-value of statistical comparison of group II with group III + group IV (anti-HBs > 10 IU/L): P = 0.0022 (Mann-Whitney).

Table 2 Lymphocyte proliferation to HBsAg in vaccine recipi-ents with anti-HBs serum levels ≤ 10 IU/L

Donor	Sex	Time from	Time of	Serum	Net count
		vacc. to	vaccina-	anti-HBs
		testing (years)	tion	(IU/L)
1	F	12	1983	4	304
2	F	11	1984	9	2387a
3	M	12	1983	0	2853a
4	F	8	1987	0	6147a
5	F	3	1992	9	11729a
6	F	9	1986	9	1769a
7	F	11	1984	0	1346a
8	M	11	1984	0	2587a
9	M	7	1988	10	254
10	M	12	1983	2	620
11	F	8	1987	6	475
12	M	11	1984	10	73

^aIf the net count of a subject was more than the net count of unvaccinated control group + 2 SD, it was considered positive. Abbreviation: F = female, M = male.