Defect in Th1-Like Cells of Nonresponders to Hepatitis B Vaccine

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from nonresponders to hepatitis B vaccine (HBsAg) failed to undergo a proliferative response to recombinant HBsAg in vitro, whereas cells from responders proliferated vigorously. The lack of proliferative response was not due to defective antigen presentation in that MHC-identical responder and nonresponder antigen presenting cells were equally effective in stimulating responder T cells. Nonresponder T cells did not proliferate in response to antigen-pulsed MHC identical responder antigen presenting cells. The present study demonstrated that: 1) there were no detectable (1 in