BACKGROUNDAlthough the use of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) may lead to a significant reduction in recurrent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and improve the survival of patients who have undergone liver transplantation (LT) for hepatitis B-related diseases, the recurrence of the disease still remains at a lower level. Different clinical curative effects were observed in patients with the same HBV-related diseases and the same therapy. This study was undertaken to investigate whether the efficacy of HBIG is associated with FCGR3A gene polymorphisms in Chinese liver transplant patients.

METHODSAltogether 77 patients who had received liver transplantation for hepatitis B-related diseases with more than one-year survival after surgery were studied. The recurrence of HBV was characterized by the appearance of HBsAg in serum after the operation. The FCGR3A genotyping was performed using genomic DNA sequencing (ABI 3037). Single nucleotide polymorphism at nucleotide 559 was detected by Polyphred.

RESULTSOf the 77 patients, 14 were complicated with HBV recurrence post-transplant. The FCGR3A at nucleotide 559 TT was observed in 35 (45.5%) subjects, whereas TG in 31 (40.3%) and GG in 11 (14.3%). In the 559G carrier group (n = 42, 54.5%), the risk of HBV recurrence was 9.5%, and 1- and 2-year recurrence-free survival rates were 95.2% and 88.7%, respectively. In the 559G noncarrier group (n = 35, 45.5%), the risk of HBV recurrence was 28.6%, and 1- and 2-year recurrence-free survival rates were 74.3% and 69.3%, respectively. The risk of HBV recurrence and the recurrence-free survival rate were both statistically different between the 559G carrier and noncarrier groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSA single nucleotide polymorphism (T/G) at position 559 of the FCGR3A gene was found in Chinese patients. The efficacy of HBIG in prophylaxis of HBV recurrence after LT is associated with the gene polymorphism, so detecting FCGR3A genotypes can be a clinical reference of the HBIG administration.