Fig 5.

Immune responses and clearance of the antigen in HBsAg/HLA-A2 transgenic mice. Transgenic mice were injected with 5 μg of yeast-derived S-HBsAg or L-HBsAg formulated with alum or L-pampo. Immunizations were performed three times at 2-week intervals. Antibody titers, antibody isotypes, and antigen clearance were determined 2 weeks after the final injection. (A) Anti-S antibody titers (GMT); (B) anti-S antibody isotypes; (C) HBsAg titers in sera before and after immunization in each group; (D) HBsAg and anti-S antibody titers for individual transgenic mice before (open bars) and after (filled bars) immunization. Statistically significant decreases in HBsAg levels were observed in the groups immunized with L-HBsAg formulated with either alum (n = 7) (P < 0.01) or L-pampo (n = 7) (P < 0.01), whereas the conventional yeast-derived vaccine was not effective at clearing HBsAg from the blood (n = 7) (P > 0.01).