TY  - JOUR
A1  - Graf, Christiana
A1  - Mondorf, Antonia
A1  - Knop, Viola
A1  - Peiffer, Kai-Henrik
A1  - Dietz, Julia
A1  - Friess, Julia
A1  - Wedemeyer, Heiner
A1  - Buggisch, Peter
A1  - Mauss, Stefan
A1  - Berg, Thomas
A1  - Rausch, Michael
A1  - Sprinzl, Martin
A1  - Klinker, Hartwig
A1  - Hinrichsen, Holger
A1  - Bronowicki, Jean-Pierre
A1  - Haag, Sebastian
A1  - Hüppe, Dietrich
A1  - Lutz, Thomas
A1  - Poynard, Thierry
A1  - Zeuzem, Stefan
A1  - Friedrich-Rust, Mireen
A1  - Sarrazin, Christoph
A1  - Vermehren, Johannes
T1  - Evaluation of point shear wave elastography using acoustic radiation force impulse imaging for longitudinal fibrosis assessment in patients with HBeAg-Negative HBV infection
JF  - Journal of Clinical Medicine
N2  - 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.
KW  - HBV
KW  - non-invasive fibrosis assessment
KW  - point shear wave elastography
KW  - acoustic radiation force impulse imaging
KW  - transient elastography
KW  - fibrotest
KW  - APRI
KW  - FIB-4
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-193916
SN  - 2077-0383
VL  - 8
IS  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - García-Fernández, Patricia
A1  - Höfflin, Klemens
A1  - Rausch, Antonia
A1  - Strommer, Katharina
A1  - Neumann, Astrid
A1  - Cebulla, Nadine
A1  - Reinhold, Ann-Kristin
A1  - Rittner, Heike
A1  - Üçeyler, Nurcan
A1  - Sommer, Claudia
T1  - Systemic inflammatory markers in patients with polyneuropathies
JF  - Frontiers in Immunology
N2  - Introduction
In patients with peripheral neuropathies (PNP), neuropathic pain is present in 50% of the cases, independent of the etiology. The pathophysiology of pain is poorly understood, and inflammatory processes have been found to be involved in neuro-degeneration, -regeneration and pain. While previous studies have found a local upregulation of inflammatory mediators in patients with PNP, there is a high variability described in the cytokines present systemically in sera and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We hypothesized that the development of PNP and neuropathic pain is associated with enhanced systemic inflammation.

Methods
To test our hypothesis, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the protein, lipid and gene expression of different pro- and anti-inflammatory markers in blood and CSF from patients with PNP and controls.

Results 
While we found differences between PNP and controls in specific cytokines or lipids, such as CCL2 or oleoylcarnitine, PNP patients and controls did not present major differences in systemic inflammatory markers in general. IL-10 and CCL2 levels were related to measures of axonal damage and neuropathic pain. Lastly, we describe a strong interaction between inflammation and neurodegeneration at the nerve roots in a specific subgroup of PNP patients with blood-CSF barrier dysfunction.

Conclusion
In patients with PNP systemic inflammatory, markers in blood or CSF do not differ from controls in general, but specific cytokines or lipids do. Our findings further highlight the importance of CSF analysis in patients with peripheral neuropathies.
KW  - cytokines
KW  - polyneuropathy
KW  - cerebrospinal fluid
KW  - neurofilament light chain
KW  - blood CSF barrier
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-304217
VL  - 14
ER  -