TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lauruschkat, Chris D.
A1  - Page, Lukas
A1  - Etter, Sonja
A1  - Weis, Philipp
A1  - Gamon, Florian
A1  - Kraus, Sabrina
A1  - Einsele, Hermann
A1  - Wurster, Sebastian
A1  - Loeffler, Juergen
T1  - T-Cell Immune Surveillance in Allogenic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients: Are Whole Blood–Based Assays Ready to Challenge ELISPOT?
JF  - Open Forum Infectious Diseases
N2  - We compared the feasibility of 4 cytomegalovirus (CMV)- and Aspergillus-reactive T-cell immunoassay protocols in allogenic stem cell transplant recipients. While enzyme-linked immunospot performed best overall, logistically advantageous whole blood–based assays performed comparably in patients with less severe lymphocytopenia. CMV-induced interferon-gamma responses correlated strongly across all protocols and showed high concordance with serology.
KW  - immunoassay
KW  - biomarker
KW  - aspergillosis
KW  - cytomegalovirus
KW  - T cells
KW  - cytokines
KW  - flow cytometry
KW  - ELISPOT
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-363164
VL  - 8
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Springer, Jan
A1  - Held, Jürgen
A1  - Mengoli, Carlo
A1  - Schlegel, Paul Gerhardt
A1  - Gamon, Florian
A1  - Träger, Johannes
A1  - Kurzai, Oliver
A1  - Einsele, Hermann
A1  - Loeffler, Juergen
A1  - Eyrich, Matthias
T1  - Diagnostic performance of (1→3)-β-D-glucan alone and in combination with aspergillus PCR and galactomannan in serum of pediatric patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
JF  - Journal of Fungi
N2  - Data on biomarker-assisted diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in pediatric patients is scarce. Therefore, we conducted a cohort study over two years including 404 serum specimens of 26 pediatric patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT). Sera were tested prospectively twice weekly for Aspergillus-specific DNA, galactomannan (GM), and retrospectively for (1→3)-β-D-glucan (BDG). Three probable IA and two possible invasive fungal disease (IFD) cases were identified using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer and the Mycoses Study Group (EORTC/MSGERC) 2019 consensus definitions. Sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of probable IA and possible IFD was 80% (95% confidential interval (CI): 28–99%) and 55% (95% CI: 32–77%) for BDG, 40% (95% CI: 5–85%) and 100% (95% CI: 83–100%) for GM, and 60% (95% CI: 15–95%) and 95% (95% CI: 75–100%) for Aspergillus-specific real-time PCR. However, sensitivities have to be interpreted with great caution due to the limited number of IA cases. Interestingly, the low specificity of BDG was largely caused by false-positive BDG results that clustered around the date of alloSCT. The following strategies were able to increase BDG specificity: two consecutive positive BDG tests for diagnosis (specificity 80% (95% CI: 56–94%)); using an optimized cutoff value of 306 pg/mL (specificity 90% (95% CI: 68–99%)) and testing BDG only after the acute posttransplant phase. In summary, BDG can help to diagnose IA in pediatric alloSCT recipients. However, due to the poor specificity either an increased cutoff value should be utilized or BDG results should be confirmed by an alternative Aspergillus assay.
KW  - beta-D-glucan
KW  - galactomannan
KW  - real-time PCR
KW  - Aspergillus
KW  - pediatric
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-234179
SN  - 2309-608X
VL  - 7
IS  - 3
ER  -