Transcriptional profiling of HBV-naive subjects before vaccination against Hepatitis A/B viruses, Diphtheria/Tetanus toxoids and Cholera.

One hundred and seventy four (174) generally healthy, Hepatitis B virus (HBV) naive, adult residents of Quebec were vaccinated with two doses of Twinrix (HBsAg and Hepatitis A virus - Glaxo Smith-Kline), generic Tetanus-diphtheria booster (tetanus and diphtheria - Sanofi-Pasteur), and Dukoral (recombinant cholera toxin B subunit and whole killed Vibrios - Sanofi Pasteur) according to the respective product labels. Blood samples were taken immediately prior to vaccination. Pre-vaccination high dimensional analyses of blood using transcriptional profiling and flow cytometry revealed that subjects having increased memory B cell frequencies and higher expression of genes downstream of B cell receptor signaling responded more strongly to the HBV vaccine whereas subjects having higher expression of inflammatory related genes and greater numbers of activated innate immune cells showed a weaker response to this vaccine.