Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology 1735-1502 14 3 2015 10 18 233 245 EN Abdollah Jafarzadeh Molecular Medicine Research Center, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran AND Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran AND Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Masoome Bagheri-Jamebozorgi Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran Maryam Nemati Department of Immunology, School of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran Forough Golsaz-Shirazi Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Fazel Shokri Department of Immunology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran AND Monoclonal Antibody Research Center, Avicenna Research Institute, ACECR, Tehran, Iran 2015 10 18 2015 10 18 Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and its sequelae such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma has remained a serious public health problem throughout the world. The WHO strategy for effective control of HBV infection and its complications is mass vaccination of neonates and children within the framework of Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). Vaccination with hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) induces protective antibody response (anti-HBs ≥ 10 IU/L) in 90-99% of vaccinees.The lack of  response to  HBsAg has  been attributed  to a variety of  immunological mechanisms, including defect in antigen presentation, defect in HBsAg-specific T and/or B cell repertoires, T-cell suppression, increase in the regulatory T cell count, lack of necessary help of T-cells for production of anti-HBs by B cells, defect in Th1 and/or Th2 cytokine production  and  selective  killing  of  HBsAg-specific  B-cells  by  human  leukocyte  antigen (HLA)-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocytes. The HLA complex plays an important role in many of these immunological processes.A variety of HLA class I, II, and III alleles and antigens have been reported to beassociated with antibody response to HBsAg vaccination in different ethnic populations. Moreover, some HLA haplotypes were also associated with responsiveness to HBsAg.In this review the association of the HLA specificities with antibody response to hepatitis B (HB) vaccine is discussed. https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/view/563 https://ijaai.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijaai/article/download/563/448