Association of human leukocyte antigen alleles and supertypes with immunogenicity of oral rotavirus vaccine given to infants in China

Rotavirus (RV) vaccines show distinct immunogenicity in dozens of clinical trials, which is associated with multiple host and environmental factors. Previous research has demonstrated that the highly polymorphic human leukocyte antigen (HLA) system plays an essential role in regulating immune response to a variety of vaccines. This study aims to investigate the relationship between HLA polymorphisms and immunogenicity of RV vaccine. A nested case-control study was carried out among infants enrolled in phase III clinical trial of trivalent human-lamb reassortant vaccine (RV3) in Henan province, China. Serum RV specific immunoglobulin A (RV-IgA) was detected before and after a 3-dose vaccination series, followed by calculation of seroconversion rates. Seroconversion was defined as a 4-fold or greater increase in RV-IgA titers between pre-vaccination and 1-month post-dose 3 vaccination. The infants who seroconverted were defined as responders, and the others without seroconversion were considered as non-responders. Their HLA genotypes were obtained by using the sequence-based typing method. The HLA allele and supertype frequencies of 2 groups were analyzed statistically. Eighty-three of 133 infants seroconverted after vaccination. Twenty-one HLA-A, 45 HLA-B, 24 HLA-Cw, 29 HLA-DRB1 and 16 HLA-DQB1 distinct alleles were detected. The frequency of HLA-B∗4001 (corrected P = .01, adjusted OR = 0.152, 95% CI = 0.048–0.475) in non-responder group was significantly higher than that in responder group. Furthermore, significant association was found between HLA-B44 supertype (corrected P = .02, adjusted OR = 0.414, 95% CI = 0.225–0.763) and RV non-response. Certain HLA allele (HLA-B∗4001) and supertype (HLA-B44) are potentially associated with non-response after immunization with the novel RV3 vaccine in Chinese infants.