The link between genetic variation and variability in vaccine responses: Systematic review and meta-analyses

Although immune response to vaccines can be influenced by several parameters, human genetic variations are thought to strongly influence the variability in vaccine responsiveness. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are needed to clarify the genetic contribution to this variability, which may affect the efficacy of existing vaccines. We performed a systematic literature search to identify all studies describing the associations of allelic variants or single nucleotide polymorphisms in immune response genes with vaccine responses until July 2013. The studies fulfilling inclusion criteria were meta-analyzed.