Publications by authors named "Barbara Seegers"

Aberrant CD4 T cell reactivity against intestinal microorganisms is considered to drive mucosal inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases. The disease-relevant microbial species and the corresponding microorganism-specific, pathogenic T cell phenotypes remain largely unknown. In the present study, we identified common gut commensal and food-derived yeasts, as direct activators of altered CD4 T cell reactions in patients with Crohn's disease (CD).

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Article Synopsis
  • Hepatitis C virus infection can lead to serious health issues like chronic liver disease and liver cancer, but treatment with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) can lead to high rates of sustained virologic response (SVR).
  • After failing DAA treatment, patients often develop resistance-associated substitutions (RASs), particularly in the NS5A protein, which can complicate future treatment options.
  • Recently approved second-generation DAA regimens like voxilaprevir/velpatasvir/sofosbuvir provide new retreatment options, but these are often unavailable or not covered by insurance in many countries, emphasizing the need to analyze the effectiveness of first-generation DAAs for re-treatment.
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Background: Early detection of alcohol misuse in orthotopic liver transplantation recipients is essential to offer patients support and prevent organ damage. Here, ethyl glucuronide, a metabolite of ethanol found in hair (hEtG), was evaluated for detection of alcohol consumption.

Methods: In 104 transplant recipients, 31 with underlying alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and 73 with non-ALD, hEtG was determined in addition to the alcohol markers urine EtG, blood ethanol, methanol, and carbohydrate-deficient transferrin.

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Treatment options of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation are limited and data on systemic compounds for advanced tumor stages in transplant recipients are sparse. We retrospectively analyzed the toxicity, tolerability, and efficacy of sorafenib in combination with mTOR inhibitors (mTORi), or calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) in transplant recipients with recurrent HCC. In total, 20 of 92 patients transplanted for HCC within a 10-year time period, experienced tumor recurrence.

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Purpose: To correlate the potential time benefit of (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)FDG-PET) in terms of early detection of recurrences of subcutaneously growing R1H tumors with therapy-specific parameters of recurrent tumor.

Material And Methods: Twelve, eleven, and seven recurrences were followed after fractionated radiotherapy, surgery, and chemotherapy for 6 months, respectively, and (18)FDG-PET was performed weekly using a conventional full-ring whole-body PET scanner. By comparing PET results and actual tumor volume, the time benefit of (18)FDG-PET in detection of recurrent tumors of 0.

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