Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Hepatitis

HBV vaccine—the first vaccine to prevent cancer

Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology volume 12, pages 190–191 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

HBV is a common infection that accounts for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, despite the availability of a vaccine. A new study has evaluated the Chinese neonatal vaccination programme and found that the vaccine considerably reduces the incidence of liver diseases, and that a booster vaccine might be effective.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Lavanchy, D. Hepatitis B virus epidemiology, disease burden, treatment, and current and emerging prevention and control measures. J. Viral Hepat. 11, 97–107 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. World Health Organization. Hepatitis B [online], (2014).

  3. McMahon, B. J. et al. Acute hepatitis B virus infection: relation of age to the clinical expression of disease and subsequent development of the carriers state. J. Infect. Dis. 151, 599–603 (1985).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. [No authors listed] Hepatitis B vaccines [French]. Wkly Epidemiol. Rec. 28, 255–263 (2004).

  5. Huang, K. & Lin, S. Nationwide vaccination: a success story in Taiwan. Vaccine 18 (Suppl. 1), S35–S38 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Chang, M. H. et al. Universal hepatitis B vaccination in Taiwan and the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma in children. Taiwan Childhood Hepatoma Study Group. N. Engl. J. Med. 336, 1855–1859 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. McMahon, B. J. et al. Elimination of hepatocellular carcinoma and acute hepatitis B in children 25 years after a hepatitis B newborn and catch-up immunization program. Hepatology 54, 801–807 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Qu, C. et al. Efficacy of neonatal HBV vaccination on liver cancer and other liver diseases over 30-year follow-up of the Qidong Hepatitis B intervention study: a cluster randomized controlled trial. PLoS Med. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001774.

  9. Chakvetadze, C. et al. Efficacy of hepatitis B sero-vaccination in newborns of African HBsAg positive mothers. Vaccine 29, 2846–2849 (2011).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Soleimani Amiri, M. J., Hasanjani Roushan, M. R., Baiany, M., Taheri, H. & Hasanjani Roushan, M. Outcomes of passive-active immunoprophylaxis given to infants of mothers infected with hepatitis B virus in Babol, Iran. J. Clin. Virol. 49, 283–285 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

S.P. would like to acknowledge the help of W. Gerlich in preparing this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Paris Descartes, INSERM UMS20, Institute Pasteur, APHP, Unité d'Hépatologie, Hôpital Cochin, 27 Rue du Faubourg Saint Jacques, Paris Cedex 14, 75679, France

    Stanislas Pol

Authors
  1. Stanislas Pol
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stanislas Pol.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pol, S. HBV vaccine—the first vaccine to prevent cancer. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 12, 190–191 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2015.28

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2015.28

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing