Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Oct 18, 2016; 8(29): 1212-1221
Published online Oct 18, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i29.1212
Potential role of killer immunoglobulin receptor genes among individuals vaccinated against hepatitis B virus in Lebanon
Nada M Melhem, Rami A Mahfouz, Khalil Kreidieh, Rabab Abdul-Khalik, Rolla El-Khatib, Reem Talhouk, Umayya Musharrafieh, Ghassan Hamadeh
Nada M Melhem, Khalil Kreidieh, Rolla El-Khatib, Medical Laboratory Sciences Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Rami A Mahfouz, Rabab Abdul-Khalik, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Reem Talhouk, Department of Health Management and Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Umayya Musharrafieh, Ghassan Hamadeh, Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Author contributions: Melhem NM designed the study, performed the analysis and wrote the paper; Mahfouz RA contributed to the analysis; Kreidieh K and Abdul-Khalik R performed the experiments; El-Khatib R, Talhouk R, Musharrafieh U and Hamadeh G helped in the recruitment of participants.
Supported by The University Review Board at the American University of Beirut, No. A88507; and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research, No. A522185.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the American University of Beirut.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: Not applicable.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Nada M Melhem, PhD, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Medical Laboratory Sciences Program, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, 11-0236 Riad El Solh, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon. melhemn@aub.edu.lb
Telephone: +961-1-350000-4699 Fax: +961-1-744470
Received: February 16, 2016
Peer-review started: February 18, 2016
First decision: March 30, 2016
Revised: April 13, 2016
Accepted: July 11, 2016
Article in press: July 13, 2016
Published online: October 18, 2016
Processing time: 240 Days and 13.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Currently, there are no data supporting the use of booster doses of hepatitis B vaccine among immuno-competent individuals responding to a complete primary vaccination regimen. Importantly, 5%-10% of healthy adults do not generate protective levels of antibodies and are hence considered non-responders. This study aims to explore the role of killer immunoglobulin receptor genes in responsiveness or non-responsiveness to vaccination against hepatitis B virus.