@article{MeierMoebusHeigletal.2023,
  author    = {Meier, Johannes P. and M{\"o}bus, Selina and Heigl, Florian and Asbach-Nitzsche, Alexandra and Niller, Hans Helmut and Plentz, Annelie and Avsar, Korkut and Heiß-Neumann, Marion and Schaaf, Bernhard and Cassens, Uwe and Seese, Bernd and Teschner, Daniel and Handzhiev, Sabin and Graf, Uwe and L{\"u}bbert, Christoph and Steinmaurer, Monika and Kontogianni, Konstantina and Berg, Christoph and Maieron, Andreas and Blaas, Stefan H. and Wagner, Ralf and Deml, Ludwig and Barabas, Sascha},
  title     = {Performance of T-Track\(^®\) TB, a novel dual marker RT-qPCR-based whole-blood test for improved detection of active tuberculosis},
  series = {Diagnostics},
  volume    = {13},
  journal   = {Diagnostics},
  number    = {4},
  issn      = {2075-4418},
  doi       = {10.3390/diagnostics13040758},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-304113},
  year      = {2023},
  abstract  = {Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease. It remains a major health burden worldwide, in part due to misdiagnosis. Therefore, improved diagnostic tests allowing the faster and more reliable diagnosis of patients with active TB are urgently needed. This prospective study examined the performance of the new molecular whole-blood test T-Track\(^®\) TB, which relies on the combined evaluation of IFNG and CXCL10 mRNA levels, and compared it to that of the QuantiFERON\(^®\)-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Diagnostic accuracy and agreement analyses were conducted on the whole blood of 181 active TB patients and 163 non-TB controls. T-Track\(^®\) TB presented sensitivity of 94.9\% and specificity of 93.8\% for the detection of active TB vs. non-TB controls. In comparison, the QFT-Plus ELISA showed sensitivity of 84.3\%. The sensitivity of T-Track\(^®\) TB was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of QFT-Plus. The overall agreement of T-Track\(^®\) TB with QFT-Plus to diagnose active TB was 87.9\%. Out of 21 samples with discordant results, 19 were correctly classified by T-Track\(^®\) TB while misclassified by QFT-Plus (T-Track\(^®\) TB-positive/QFT-Plus-negative), and two samples were misclassified by T-Track\(^®\) TB while correctly classified by QFT-Plus (T-Track\(^®\) TB-negative/QFT-Plus-positive). Our results demonstrate the excellent performance of the T-Track\(^®\) TB molecular assay and its suitability to accurately detect TB infection and discriminate active TB patients from non-infected controls.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GrammatikosLangeSusseretal.2014,
  author    = {Grammatikos, Georgios and Lange, Christian and Susser, Simon and Schwendy, Susanne and Dikopoulos, Nektarios and Buggisch, Peter and Encke, Jens and Teuber, Gerlinde and Goeser, Tobias and Thimme, Robert and Klinker, Hartwig and Boecher, Wulf O. and Schulte-Frohlinde, Ewert and Penna-Martinez, Marissa and Badenhoop, Klaus and Zeuzem, Stefan and Berg, Thomas and Sarrazin, Christoph},
  title     = {Vitamin D Levels Vary during Antiviral Treatment but Are Unable to Predict Treatment Outcome in HCV Genotype 1 Infected Patients},
  series = {PLOS ONE},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {PLOS ONE},
  number    = {2},
  issn      = {1932-6203},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0087974},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117310},
  pages     = {e87974},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Background: Different parameters have been determined for prediction of treatment outcome in hepatitis c virus genotype 1 infected patients undergoing pegylated interferon, ribavirin combination therapy. Results on the importance of vitamin D levels are conflicting. In the present study, a comprehensive analysis of vitamin D levels before and during therapy together with single nucleotide polymorphisms involved in vitamin D metabolism in the context of other known treatment predictors has been performed. Methods: In a well characterized prospective cohort of 398 genotype 1 infected patients treated with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin for 24-72 weeks (INDIV-2 study) 25-OH-vitamin D levels and different single nucleotide polymorphisms were analyzed together with known biochemical parameters for a correlation with virologic treatment outcome. Results: Fluctuations of more than 5 (10) ng/ml in 25-OH-vitamin D-levels have been observed in 66 (39) \% of patients during the course of antiviral therapy and neither pretreatment nor under treatment 25-OH-vitamin D-levels were associated with treatment outcome. The DHCR7-TT-polymorphism within the 7-dehydrocholesterol-reductase showed a significant association (P = 0.031) to sustained viral response in univariate analysis. Among numerous further parameters analyzed we found that age (OR = 1.028, CI = 1.002-1.056, P = 0.035), cholesterol (OR = 0.983, CI = 0.975-0.991, P<0.001), ferritin (OR = 1.002, CI = 1.000-1.004, P = 0.033), gGT (OR = 1.467, CI = 1.073-2.006, P = 0.016) and IL28B-genotype (OR = 2.442, CI = 1.271-4.695, P = 0.007) constituted the strongest predictors of treatment response. Conclusions: While 25-OH-vitamin D-levels levels show considerable variations during the long-lasting course of antiviral therapy they do not show any significant association to treatment outcome in genotype 1 infected patients.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GrafMondorfKnopetal.2019,
  author    = {Graf, Christiana and Mondorf, Antonia and Knop, Viola and Peiffer, Kai-Henrik and Dietz, Julia and Friess, Julia and Wedemeyer, Heiner and Buggisch, Peter and Mauss, Stefan and Berg, Thomas and Rausch, Michael and Sprinzl, Martin and Klinker, Hartwig and Hinrichsen, Holger and Bronowicki, Jean-Pierre and Haag, Sebastian and H{\"u}ppe, Dietrich and Lutz, Thomas and Poynard, Thierry and Zeuzem, Stefan and Friedrich-Rust, Mireen and Sarrazin, Christoph and Vermehren, Johannes},
  title     = {Evaluation of point shear wave elastography using acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for longitudinal fibrosis assessment in patients with HBeAg-Negative HBV infection},
  series = {Journal of Clinical Medicine},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Journal of Clinical Medicine},
  number    = {12},
  issn      = {2077-0383},
  doi       = {10.3390/jcm8122101},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193916},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Background: Accurate assessment of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic HBeAg-negative Hepatitis B is of crucial importance not only to predict the long-term clinical course, but also to evaluate antiviral therapy indication. The aim of this study was to prospectively assess the utility of point shear wave elastography (pSWE) for longitudinal non-invasive fibrosis assessment in a large cohort of untreated patients with chronic HBeAg-negative hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Methods: 407 consecutive patients with HBeAg-negative HBV infection who underwent pSWE, transient elastography (TE) as well as laboratory fibrosis markers, including fibrosis index based on four factors (FIB-4), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI) and FibroTest, on the same day were prospectively followed up for six years. Patients were classified into one of the three groups: inactive carriers (IC; HBV-DNA <2000 IU/mL and ALT <40 U/L); grey zone group 1 (GZ-1; HBV DNA <2000 IU/mL and ALT >40 U/L); grey zone group 2 (GZ-2; HBV-DNA >2000 IU/mL and ALT <40 U/L). Results: pSWE results were significantly correlated with TE (r = 0.29, p < 0.001) and APRI (r = 0.17; p = 0.005). Median pSWE values did not differ between IC, GZ-1 and GZ-2 patients (p = 0.82, p = 0.17, p = 0.34). During six years of follow-up, median pSWE and TE values did not differ significantly over time (TE: p = 0.27; pSWE: p = 0.05). Conclusion: Our data indicate that pSWE could be useful for non-invasive fibrosis assessment and follow-up in patients with HBeAg-negative chronic HBV infection.},
  language  = {en}
}