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  - Grammatikos, Georgios
A1  - Lange, Christian
A1  - Susser, Simon
A1  - Schwendy, Susanne
A1  - Dikopoulos, Nektarios
A1  - Buggisch, Peter
A1  - Encke, Jens
A1  - Teuber, Gerlinde
A1  - Goeser, Tobias
A1  - Thimme, Robert
A1  - Klinker, Hartwig
A1  - Boecher, Wulf O.
A1  - Schulte-Frohlinde, Ewert
A1  - Penna-Martinez, Marissa
A1  - Badenhoop, Klaus
A1  - Zeuzem, Stefan
A1  - Berg, Thomas
A1  - Sarrazin, Christoph
T1  - Vitamin D Levels Vary during Antiviral Treatment but Are Unable to Predict Treatment Outcome in HCV Genotype 1 Infected Patients
JF  - PLOS ONE
N2  - 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.
KW  - chronic Hepatitis C
KW  - sustained virological response
KW  - common genetic determinants
KW  - D serum-levels
KW  - IL28B polymorphisms
KW  - interferon alpha
KW  - viral clearance
KW  - virus infection
KW  - severe fibrosis
KW  - D insufficiency
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-117310
SN  - 1932-6203
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Hudson, Lawrence N.
A1  - Newbold, Tim
A1  - Contu, Sara
A1  - Hill, Samantha L. L.
A1  - Lysenko, Igor
A1  - De Palma, Adriana
A1  - Phillips, Helen R. P.
A1  - Senior, Rebecca A.
A1  - Bennett, Dominic J.
A1  - Booth, Hollie
A1  - Choimes, Argyrios
A1  - Correia, David L. P.
A1  - Day, Julie
A1  - Echeverria-Londono, Susy
A1  - Garon, Morgan
A1  - Harrison, Michelle L. K.
A1  - Ingram, Daniel J.
A1  - Jung, Martin
A1  - Kemp, Victoria
A1  - Kirkpatrick, Lucinda
A1  - Martin, Callum D.
A1  - Pan, Yuan
A1  - White, Hannah J.
A1  - Aben, Job
A1  - Abrahamczyk, Stefan
A1  - Adum, Gilbert B.
A1  - Aguilar-Barquero, Virginia
A1  - Aizen, Marcelo
A1  - Ancrenaz, Marc
A1  - Arbelaez-Cortes, Enrique
A1  - Armbrecht, Inge
A1  - Azhar, Badrul
A1  - Azpiroz, Adrian B.
A1  - Baeten, Lander
A1  - Báldi, András
A1  - Banks, John E.
A1  - Barlow, Jos
A1  - Batáry, Péter
A1  - Bates, Adam J.
A1  - Bayne, Erin M.
A1  - Beja, Pedro
A1  - Berg, Ake
A1  - Berry, Nicholas J.
A1  - Bicknell, Jake E.
A1  - Bihn, Jochen H.
A1  - Böhning-Gaese, Katrin
A1  - Boekhout, Teun
A1  - Boutin, Celine
A1  - Bouyer, Jeremy
A1  - Brearley, Francis Q.
A1  - Brito, Isabel
A1  - Brunet, Jörg
A1  - Buczkowski, Grzegorz
A1  - Buscardo, Erika
A1  - Cabra-Garcia, Jimmy
A1  - Calvino-Cancela, Maria
A1  - Cameron, Sydney A.
A1  - Cancello, Eliana M.
A1  - Carrijo, Tiago F.
A1  - Carvalho, Anelena L.
A1  - Castro, Helena
A1  - Castro-Luna, Alejandro A.
A1  - Cerda, Rolando
A1  - Cerezo, Alexis
A1  - Chauvat, Matthieu
A1  - Clarke, Frank M.
A1  - Cleary, Daniel F. R.
A1  - Connop, Stuart P.
A1  - D'Aniello, Biagio
A1  - da Silva, Pedro Giovani
A1  - Darvill, Ben
A1  - Dauber, Jens
A1  - Dejean, Alain
A1  - Diekötter, Tim
A1  - Dominguez-Haydar, Yamileth
A1  - Dormann, Carsten F.
A1  - Dumont, Bertrand
A1  - Dures, Simon G.
A1  - Dynesius, Mats
A1  - Edenius, Lars
A1  - Elek, Zoltán
A1  - Entling, Martin H.
A1  - Farwig, Nina
A1  - Fayle, Tom M.
A1  - Felicioli, Antonio
A1  - Felton, Annika M.
A1  - Ficetola, Gentile F.
A1  - Filgueiras, Bruno K. C.
A1  - Fonte, Steve J.
A1  - Fraser, Lauchlan H.
A1  - Fukuda, Daisuke
A1  - Furlani, Dario
A1  - Ganzhorn, Jörg U.
A1  - Garden, Jenni G.
A1  - Gheler-Costa, Carla
A1  - Giordani, Paolo
A1  - Giordano, Simonetta
A1  - Gottschalk, Marco S.
A1  - Goulson, Dave
A1  - Gove, Aaron D.
A1  - Grogan, James
A1  - Hanley, Mick E.
A1  - Hanson, Thor
A1  - Hashim, Nor R.
A1  - Hawes, Joseph E.
A1  - Hébert, Christian
A1  - Helden, Alvin J.
A1  - Henden, John-André
A1  - Hernández, Lionel
A1  - Herzog, Felix
A1  - Higuera-Diaz, Diego
A1  - Hilje, Branko
A1  - Horgan, Finbarr G.
A1  - Horváth, Roland
A1  - Hylander, Kristoffer
A1  - Horváth, Roland
A1  - Isaacs-Cubides, Paola
A1  - Ishitani, Mashiro
A1  - Jacobs, Carmen T.
A1  - Jaramillo, Victor J.
A1  - Jauker, Birgit
A1  - Jonsell, Matts
A1  - Jung, Thomas S.
A1  - Kapoor, Vena
A1  - Kati, Vassiliki
A1  - Katovai, Eric
A1  - Kessler, Michael
A1  - Knop, Eva
A1  - Kolb, Annette
A1  - Körösi, Àdám
A1  - Lachat, Thibault
A1  - Lantschner, Victoria
A1  - Le Féon, Violette
A1  - LeBuhn, Gretchen
A1  - Légaré, Jean-Philippe
A1  - Letcher, Susan G.
A1  - Littlewood, Nick A.
A1  - López-Quintero, Carlos A.
A1  - Louhaichi, Mounir
A1  - Lövei, Gabor L.
A1  - Lucas-Borja, Manuel Esteban
A1  - Luja, Victor H.
A1  - Maeto, Kaoru
A1  - Magura, Tibor
A1  - Mallari, Neil Aldrin
A1  - Marin-Spiotta, Erika
A1  - Marhall, E. J. P.
A1  - Martínez, Eliana
A1  - Mayfield, Margaret M.
A1  - Mikusinski, Gregorz
A1  - Milder, Jeffery C.
A1  - Miller, James R.
A1  - Morales, Carolina L.
A1  - Muchane, Mary N.
A1  - Muchane, Muchai
A1  - Naidoo, Robin
A1  - Nakamura, Akihiro
A1  - Naoe, Shoji
A1  - Nates-Parra, Guiomar
A1  - Navarerete Gutierrez, Dario A.
A1  - Neuschulz, Eike L.
A1  - Noreika, Norbertas
A1  - Norfolk, Olivia
A1  - Noriega, Jorge Ari
A1  - Nöske, Nicole M.
A1  - O'Dea, Niall
A1  - Oduro, William
A1  - Ofori-Boateng, Caleb
A1  - Oke, Chris O.
A1  - Osgathorpe, Lynne M.
A1  - Paritsis, Juan
A1  - Parrah, Alejandro
A1  - Pelegrin, Nicolás
A1  - Peres, Carlos A.
A1  - Persson, Anna S.
A1  - Petanidou, Theodora
A1  - Phalan, Ben
A1  - Philips, T. Keith
A1  - Poveda, Katja
A1  - Power, Eileen F.
A1  - Presley, Steven J.
A1  - Proença, Vânia
A1  - Quaranta, Marino
A1  - Quintero, Carolina
A1  - Redpath-Downing, Nicola A.
A1  - Reid, J. Leighton
A1  - Reis, Yana T.
A1  - Ribeiro, Danilo B.
A1  - Richardson, Barbara A.
A1  - Richardson, Michael J.
A1  - Robles, Carolina A.
A1  - Römbke, Jörg
A1  - Romero-Duque, Luz Piedad
A1  - Rosselli, Loreta
A1  - Rossiter, Stephen J.
A1  - Roulston, T'ai H.
A1  - Rousseau, Laurent
A1  - Sadler, Jonathan P.
A1  - Sáfián, Szbolcs
A1  - Saldaña-Vásquez, Romeo A.
A1  - Samnegård, Ulrika
A1  - Schüepp, Christof
A1  - Schweiger, Oliver
A1  - Sedlock, Jodi L.
A1  - Shahabuddin, Ghazala
A1  - Sheil, Douglas
A1  - Silva, Fernando A. B.
A1  - Slade, Eleanor
A1  - Smith-Pardo, Allan H.
A1  - Sodhi, Navjot S.
A1  - Somarriba, Eduardo J.
A1  - Sosa, Ramón A.
A1  - Stout, Jane C.
A1  - Struebig, Matthew J.
A1  - Sung, Yik-Hei
A1  - Threlfall, Caragh G.
A1  - Tonietto, Rebecca
A1  - Tóthmérész, Béla
A1  - Tscharntke, Teja
A1  - Turner, Edgar C.
A1  - Tylianakis, Jason M.
A1  - Vanbergen, Adam J.
A1  - Vassilev, Kiril
A1  - Verboven, Hans A. F.
A1  - Vergara, Carlos H.
A1  - Vergara, Pablo M.
A1  - Verhulst, Jort
A1  - Walker, Tony R.
A1  - Wang, Yanping
A1  - Watling, James I.
A1  - Wells, Konstans
A1  - Williams, Christopher D.
A1  - Willig, Michael R.
A1  - Woinarski, John C. Z.
A1  - Wolf, Jan H. D.
A1  - Woodcock, Ben A.
A1  - Yu, Douglas W.
A1  - Zailsev, Andreys
A1  - Collen, Ben
A1  - Ewers, Rob M.
A1  - Mace, Georgina M.
A1  - Purves, Drew W.
A1  - Scharlemann, Jörn P. W.
A1  - Pervis, Andy
T1  - The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts
JF  - Ecology and Evolution
N2  - Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups - including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems - ). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.
KW  - urban-rural gradient
KW  - instensively managed farmland
KW  - Mexican coffee plantations
KW  - Bombus Spp. Hymenoptera
KW  - bumblebee nest density
KW  - data sharing
KW  - land use
KW  - habitat destruction
KW  - global change
KW  - land-use change
KW  - plant community composition
KW  - Northeastern Costa Rica
KW  - dung beetle coleoptera
KW  - bird species richness
Y1  - 2014
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-114425
VL  - 4
IS  - 24
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Berg, Stefan
A1  - Schelling, Esther
A1  - Hailu, Elena
A1  - Firdessa, Rebuma
A1  - Gumi, Balako
A1  - Erenso, Girume
A1  - Gadisa, Endalamaw
A1  - Mengistu, Araya
A1  - Habtamu, Meseret
A1  - Hussein, Jemal
A1  - Kiros, Teklu
A1  - Bekele, Shiferaw
A1  - Mekonnen, Wondale
A1  - Derese, Yohannes
A1  - Zinsstag, Jakob
A1  - Ameni, Gobena
A1  - Gagneux, Sebastien
A1  - Robertson, Brian D
A1  - Tschopp, Rea
A1  - Hewinson, Glyn
A1  - Yamuah, Lawrence
A1  - Gordon, Stephen V
A1  - Aseffa, Abraham
T1  - Investigation of the high rates of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in Ethiopia reveals no single driving factor and minimal evidence for zoonotic transmission of Mycobacterium bovis infection
JF  - BMC Infectious Diseases
N2  - Background: 
Ethiopia, a high tuberculosis (TB) burden country, reports one of the highest incidence rates of extra-pulmonary TB dominated by cervical lymphadenitis (TBLN). Infection with Mycobacterium bovis has previously been excluded as the main reason for the high rate of extra-pulmonary TB in Ethiopia. 

Methods: 
Here we examined demographic and clinical characteristics of 953 pulmonary (PTB) and 1198 TBLN patients visiting 11 health facilities in distinct geographic areas of Ethiopia. Clinical characteristics were also correlated with genotypes of the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 

Results: 
No major patient or bacterial strain factor could be identified as being responsible for the high rate of TBLN, and there was no association with HIV infection. However, analysis of the demographic data of involved patients showed that having regular and direct contact with live animals was more associated with TBLN than with PTB, although no M. bovis was isolated from patients with TBLN. Among PTB patients, those infected with Lineage 4 reported "contact with other TB patient" more often than patients infected with Lineage 3 did (OR = 1.6, CI 95% 1.0-2.7; p = 0.064). High fever, in contrast to low and moderate fever, was significantly associated with Lineage 4 (OR = 2.3; p = 0.024). On the other hand, TBLN cases infected with Lineage 4 tended to get milder symptoms overall for the constitutional symptoms than those infected with Lineage 3. 

Conclusions: 
The study suggests a complex role for multiple interacting factors in the epidemiology of extra-pulmonary TB in Ethiopia, including factors that can only be derived from population-based studies, which may prove to be significant for TB control in Ethiopia.
KW  - zoonotic
KW  - Mycobacterium
KW  - Ethiopia
KW  - tuberculosis
KW  - Bovis
KW  - pulmonary
KW  - extrapulmonary
KW  - lymphadenitis
Y1  - 2015
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-143935
VL  - 15
IS  - 112
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Adam, Pia
A1  - Kircher, Stefan
A1  - Sbiera, Iuliu
A1  - Koehler, Viktoria Florentine
A1  - Berg, Elke
A1  - Knösel, Thomas
A1  - Sandner, Benjamin
A1  - Fenske, Wiebke Kristin
A1  - Bläker, Hendrik
A1  - Smaxwil, Constantin
A1  - Zielke, Andreas
A1  - Sipos, Bence
A1  - Allelein, Stephanie
A1  - Schott, Matthias
A1  - Dierks, Christine
A1  - Spitzweg, Christine
A1  - Fassnacht, Martin
A1  - Kroiss, Matthias
T1  - FGF-Receptors and PD-L1 in Anaplastic and Poorly Differentiated Thyroid Cancer: Evaluation of the Preclinical Rationale
JF  - Frontiers in Endocrinology
N2  - Background
Treatment options for poorly differentiated (PDTC) and anaplastic (ATC) thyroid carcinoma are unsatisfactory and prognosis is generally poor. Lenvatinib (LEN), a multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR) 1-4 is approved for advanced radioiodine refractory thyroid carcinoma, but response to single agent is poor in ATC. Recent reports of combining LEN with PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab (PEM) are promising.


Materials and Methods
Primary ATC (n=93) and PDTC (n=47) tissue samples diagnosed 1997-2019 at five German tertiary care centers were assessed for PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry using Tumor Proportion Score (TPS). FGFR 1-4 mRNA was quantified in 31 ATC and 14 PDTC with RNAscope in-situ hybridization. Normal thyroid tissue (NT) and papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) served as controls. Disease specific survival (DSS) was the primary outcome variable.


Results
PD-L1 TPS≥50% was observed in 42% of ATC and 26% of PDTC specimens. Mean PD-L1 expression was significantly higher in ATC (TPS 30%) than in PDTC (5%; p<0.01) and NT (0%, p<0.001). 53% of PDTC samples had PD-L1 expression ≤5%. FGFR mRNA expression was generally low in all samples but combined FGFR1-4 expression was significantly higher in PDTC and ATC compared to NT (each p<0.001). No impact of PD-L1 and FGFR 1-4 expression was observed on DSS.


Conclusion
High tumoral expression of PD-L1 in a large proportion of ATCs and a subgroup of PDTCs provides a rationale for immune checkpoint inhibition. FGFR expression is low thyroid tumor cells. The clinically observed synergism of PEM with LEN may be caused by immune modulation.
KW  - tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)
KW  - immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI)
KW  - immunohistochemistry
KW  - immunotherapy
KW  - PD-L1
KW  - FGFR
Y1  - 2021
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-244653
SN  - 1664-2392
VL  - 12
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kablau, Arne
A1  - Berg, Stefan
A1  - Rutschmann, Benjamin
A1  - Scheiner, Ricarda
T1  - Short-term hyperthermia at larval age reduces sucrose responsiveness of adult honeybees and can increase life span
JF  - Apidologie
N2  - Honeybees are very sensitive to their breeding temperature. Even slightly lower temperatures during larval development can significantly affect adult behavior. Several devices which are employed for killing the honeybee ectoparasite Varroa destructor rely on short-term hyperthermia in the honeybee hive. The device used here applies 43.7 °C for 2 h, which is highly effective in killing the mites. We study how short-term hyperthermia affects worker brood and behavior of emerging adult bees. Sucrose responsiveness was strongly reduced after treatment of larvae early or late of larval development. Hyperthermia significantly enhanced life span, particularly in bees receiving treated early in larval development. To ask whether increased life span correlated with foraging performance, we used radio frequency identification (RFID). Onset and offset of foraging behavior as well as foraging trip duration and lifetime foraging effort were unaffected by hyperthermia treatment as prepupa.
KW  - temperature
KW  - Varroa destructor
KW  - worker behavior
KW  - Apis mellifera
KW  - RFID
KW  - température
KW  - Varroa destructor
KW  - comportement des travailleurs
KW  - Apis mellifera
KW  - RFID
KW  - Temperatur
KW  - Varroa destructor
KW  - Bienenverhalten
KW  - Apis mellifera
KW  - RFID
Y1  - 2020
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-232462
SN  - 0044-8435
VL  - 51
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Meier, Johannes P.
A1  - Möbus, Selina
A1  - Heigl, Florian
A1  - Asbach-Nitzsche, Alexandra
A1  - Niller, Hans Helmut
A1  - Plentz, Annelie
A1  - Avsar, Korkut
A1  - Heiß-Neumann, Marion
A1  - Schaaf, Bernhard
A1  - Cassens, Uwe
A1  - Seese, Bernd
A1  - Teschner, Daniel
A1  - Handzhiev, Sabin
A1  - Graf, Uwe
A1  - Lübbert, Christoph
A1  - Steinmaurer, Monika
A1  - Kontogianni, Konstantina
A1  - Berg, Christoph
A1  - Maieron, Andreas
A1  - Blaas, Stefan H.
A1  - Wagner, Ralf
A1  - Deml, Ludwig
A1  - Barabas, Sascha
T1  - Performance of T-Track\(^®\) TB, a novel dual marker RT-qPCR-based whole-blood test for improved detection of active tuberculosis
JF  - Diagnostics
N2  - 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.
KW  - tuberculosis
KW  - TB
KW  - active TB
KW  - infection detection
KW  - T-Track\(^®\) TB
KW  - QuantiFERON\(^®\)-TB Gold Plus
KW  - mRNA
KW  - RT-qPCR
KW  - CXCL10
KW  - IFNG
Y1  - 2023
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-304113
SN  - 2075-4418
VL  - 13
IS  - 4
ER  -