| 1. |
- Aleman, Soo, et al.
(författare)
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A Risk for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Persists Long-term After Sustained Virologic Response in Patients With Hepatitis C-Associated Liver Cirrhosis
- 2013
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Ingår i: Clinical Infectious Diseases. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 1537-6591 .- 1058-4838. ; 57:2, s. 230-236
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background. The long-term effect of sustained virologic response (SVR) to antiviral therapy on the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), liver complications, liver-related death, and overall death in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patients with liver cirrhosis is not fully known. Methods. These risks were evaluated during long-term follow-up in 351 patients with HCV-related cirrhosis. One hundred ten patients with SVR, 193 with non-SVR, and 48 who were untreated were included in a multicenter cohort that was initiated in 2001 and prospectively followed up for a mean of 5.3 (SD, 2.8) years. Complementary follow-up data from national registries were used to minimize the loss of patients during follow-up. Results. Six patients with SVR developed HCC at 0.04, 0.64, 2.4, 7.4, 7.4, and 7.6 years, respectively, after achieving SVR. The incidences of HCC, any liver complication, liver-related death, and overall death per 100 person-years were significantly lower in SVR time with 1.0, 0.9, 0.7, and 1.9, compared to 2.3, 3.2, 3.0, and 4.1 in non-SVR and 4.0, 4.9, 4.5, and 5.1 in untreated time. The long-term consequences did not decline significantly after >3 years versus during the first 3 years of follow-up. Conclusions. The risk for HCC, liver decompensation, and death in patients with liver cirrhosis related to HCV was markedly reduced after SVR, but a long-term risk of developing HCC remains for up to 8 years. Cirrhotic patients with HCV who achieve SVR should therefore maintain long-term surveillance for HCC. Future studies aimed to better identify those with remaining long-term risk for HCC are needed.
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| 2. |
- Malm, Kerstin, 1960-, et al.
(författare)
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Analytical evaluation of nine serological assays for diagnosis of syphilis
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. - : Wiley-Blackwell. - 0926-9959 .- 1468-3083. ; 29:12, s. 2369-2376
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The diagnosis of syphilis is most frequently dependent on antibody detection with serological assays. Assays for both treponemal and non-treponemal antibodies are needed to provide a sensitive and specific diagnosis. For decades, a first screening has been done with non-treponemal assays, followed by treponemal. However, in recent years, following laboratory automation, the reverse sequence screening algorithms have been developed, using a treponemal assay as the initial screening test.Objective: To evaluate serological assays for treponemal and non-treponemal antibodies, to use in reverse algorithm screening of syphilis.Material and methods: Six treponemal assays (one IgM-specific assay), two non-treponemal assays and one novel dual point-of-care (POC) assay for serological diagnosis of syphilis were evaluated. Serum samples from Guinea-Bissau and Sweden were examined, as well as two performance panels and samples from blood donors. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated for each assay, using different assays as gold standard test.Results: The Macro-Vue RPR Card test was the most sensitive non-treponemal test and the TrepSure Anti-Treponema EIA Screen and the SeroDia TP-PA were the most sensitive and specific treponemal assays. Among the automated assays, both the Liaison Treponema Screen and Architect Syphilis TP showed high sensitivity, however, the former had clearly higher specificity.Conclusions: In resourced settings, where the reverse sequence algorithm is preferred for screening, an automated treponemal immunoassay for initial screening subsequently followed by the TrepSure test or TP-PA assay as a second treponemal assay appear highly effective. Finally, a quantitative highly sensitive non-treponemal assay, e.g. the Macro-Vue RPR Card test, could then be used as a supplementary test to evaluate activity of the syphilis infection.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Carlander, C., et al.
(författare)
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Cohort profile: InfCareHIV, a prospective registry-based cohort study of people with diagnosed HIV in Sweden
- 2023
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Ingår i: Bmj Open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 13:3
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose The Swedish InfCareHIV cohort was established in 2003 to ensure equal and effective care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) and enable long-term follow-up. InfCareHIV functions equally as a decision support system as a quality registry, ensuring up-to-date data reported in real time. Participants InfCareHIV includes data on >99% of all people with diagnosed HIV in Sweden and up to now 13029 have been included in the cohort. InfCareHIV includes data on HIV-related biomarkers and antiretroviral therapies (ART) and also on demographics, patient-reported outcome measures and patient-reported experience measures. Findings to date Sweden was in 2015 the first country to reach the UNAIDS (United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS)/WHO's 90-90-90 goals. Late diagnosis of HIV infection was identified as a key problem in the Swedish HIV-epidemic, and low-level HIV viraemia while on ART associated with all-cause mortality. Increased HIV RNA load in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) despite suppression of the plasma viral load was found in 5% of PLHIV, a phenomenon referred to as 'CSF viral escape'. Dolutegravir-based treatment in PLHIV with pre-existing nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-mutations was non-inferior to protease inhibitor-based regimens. An increase of transmitted drug resistance was observed in the InfCareHIV cohort. Lower efficacy for protease inhibitors was not due to lower adherence to treatment. Incidence of type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance was high in the ageing HIV population. Despite ART, the risk of infection-related cancer as well as lung cancer was increased in PLHIV compared with HIV-negative. PLHIV were less likely successfully treated for cervical precancer and more likely to have human papillomavirus types not included in current HPV vaccines. Self-reported sexual satisfaction in PLHIV is improving and is higher in women than men. Future plans InfCareHIV provides a unique base to study and further improve long-term treatment outcomes, comorbidity management and health-related quality of life in people with HIV in Sweden.
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| 5. |
- Esbjörnsson, Joakim, et al.
(författare)
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Long-term follow-up of HIV-2-related AIDS and mortality in Guinea-Bissau : a prospective open cohort study
- 2019
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Ingår i: The Lancet HIV. - : The Lancet Publishing Group. - 2405-4704 .- 2352-3018. ; 6:1, s. E25-E31
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: HIV type 2 (HIV-2) is considered more benign and has fewer pathogenic consequences than HIV type 1 (HIV-1) for most infected individuals. However, reliable estimates of time to AIDS and mortality among those with HIV-2 infection are absent. We therefore aimed to compare the time to AIDS and mortality, and the CD4 T-cell dynamics between those infected with HIV-1 and HIV-2.METHODS: We did a prospective open cohort study. We included all police officers with regular employment from police stations in both urban and rural areas of Guinea-Bissau since Feb 6, 1990. We continued to include participants until Sept 28, 2009, and follow-up of HIV-1-positive and HIV-2-positive individuals continued until Sept 28, 2013. We collected blood samples at enrolment and at scheduled annual follow-up visits at police stations. We analysed longitudinal data from individuals infected with HIV-1 and HIV-2 according to time to AIDS, time to death, and T-cell dynamics. Time of HIV infection was estimated as the mid-timepoint between last HIV-seronegative and first HIV-seropositive sample. Data from an additional 2984 HIV-uninfected individuals from the same population were analysed to assess the effect of natural mortality on HIV-related mortality.FINDINGS: 872 participants tested HIV positive during the 23-year study period: 408 were infected with HIV-1 (183 infected before and 225 infected after enrolment) and 464 were infected with HIV-2 (377 before and 87 after enrolment). The median time from HIV infection to development of AIDS was 6·2 years (95% CI 5·4-7·1) for HIV-1 infection and 14·3 years (10·7-18·0) for HIV-2 infection (p<0·0001). The median survival time after HIV infection was 8·2 years (95% CI 7·5-8·9) for HIV-1 infection and 15·6 years (12·0-19·2) for HIV-2 infection (p<0·0001). Individuals who were infected with HIV-1 or HIV-2 before enrolment showed similar results. Comparison with uninfected individuals indicated limited confounding contribution from natural mortality. Mean CD4 percentages were higher in individuals with HIV-2 than in those with HIV-1 during early infection (28·0% [SE 1·3] vs 22·3% [1·7]; p=0·00094) and declined at a slower rate (0·4% [0·2] vs 0·9% [0·2] per year; p=0·028). HIV-2-infected individuals developed clinical AIDS at higher mean CD4 percentages (18·2%, IQR 7·2-25·4) than HIV-1-infected individuals (8·2%, 3·0-13·8; p<0·0001).INTERPRETATION: Our results show that both HIV-1-infected and HIV-2-infected individuals have a high probability of developing and dying from AIDS without antiretroviral treatment.
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| 6. |
- Özkaya Sahin, Gülsen, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of Complement on HIV-2 Plasma Antiviral Activity Is Intratype Specific and Potent
- 2013
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Ingår i: Journal of Virology. - 1098-5514. ; 87:1, s. 273-281
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Human immunodeficiency virus type-2 (HIV-2) infected individuals develop immunodeficiency with a considerable delay and transmit the virus at a lower rate as compared to HIV-1 infected. Conceivably, comparative studies on immune responsiveness of the HIV-1 and HIV-2 infected hosts may help to explain differences in pathogenesis and transmission between the two types of infection. Previous studies have shown that the neutralizing antibody response is more potent and broader in HIV-2 than HIV-1 infection. In the present study we have further examined the function of the humoral immune response and studied the potentiating effect of complement (C') on antiviral activity of plasma from singly HIV-1 or HIV-2 infected, as well as HIV-1/HIV-2 dually infected individuals. Neutralization and antibody-dependent complement-mediated inactivation of HIV-1 and HIV-2 isolates were tested in a plaque reduction assay using U87.CD4-CCR5 cells. Results showed that addition of C' increased intra-type antiviral activity of both HIV-1 and HIV-2 plasma, although the C' effect was more pronounced with HIV-2 than HIV-1 plasma. Using the area-under-curve (AUC)-based readout, multivariate statistical analysis confirmed that type of HIV infection was independently associated with the magnitude of the C' effect. Analysis carried out with purified IgG indicated that the C' effect was largely exerted through the classical C' pathway involving IgG in both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections. In summary, these findings suggest that antibody binding to HIV-2 structures facilitates efficient use of C', and may thereby be one factor contributing to a strong antiviral activity present in HIV-2 infection.
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| 7. |
- Olsen, Birgitta, 1952-, et al.
(författare)
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Phenotypic and genetic characterisation of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau, West Africa : a prospective cohort study
- 2012
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Ingår i: BMJ Open. - London, United Kingdom : BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. - 2044-6055. ; 20:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Knowledge regarding characteristics and transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Chlamydia trachomatis and Mycoplasma genitalium and antibiotic resistance in N gonorrhoeae in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, is entirely lacking.Objectives: To characterise N gonorrhoeae, C trachomatis and M genitalium samples from Guinea-Bissau and to define bacterial populations, possible transmission chains and for N gonorrhoeae spread of antibiotic-resistant isolates.Design: Prospective cohort study.Setting: Two sexual health and family planning clinics, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau.Participants: Positive samples from 711 women and 27 men.Material and methods: Positive samples for N gonorrhoeae (n=31), C trachomatis (n=60) and M genitalium (n=30) were examined. The gonococcal isolates were characterised with antibiograms, serovar determination and N gonorrhoeae multiantigen sequence typing (NG-MAST). The C trachomatis ompA gene and the M genitalium mgpB gene were sequenced, and phylogenetic analyses were performed.Results: For N gonorrhoeae, the levels of resistance (intermediate susceptibility) to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin, rifampicin, ampicillin, tetracycline, penicillin G and cefuroxime were 10% (0%), 6% (10%), 13% (10%), 68% (0%), 74% (0%), 68% (16%) and 0% (84%), respectively. All isolates were susceptible to cefixime, ceftriaxone, spectinomycin and azithromycin, and the minimum inhibitory concentrations of kanamycin (range: 8-32 mg/l) and gentamicin (range: 0.75-6 mg/l) were low (no resistance breakpoints exist for these antimicrobials). 19 NG-MAST sequence types (STs) (84% novel STs) were identified. Phylogenetic analysis of the C trachomatis ompA gene revealed genovar G as most prevalent (37%), followed by genovar D (19%). 23 mgpB STs were found among the M genitalium isolates, and 67% of isolates had unique STs.Conclusions: The diversity among the sexually transmitted infection (STI) pathogens may be associated with suboptimal diagnostics, contact tracing, case reporting and epidemiological surveillance. In Guinea-Bissau, additional STI studies are vital to estimate the STI burden and form the basis for a national sexual health strategy for prevention, diagnosis and surveillance of STIs.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Johansson, Emil, et al.
(författare)
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Hierarchical Clustering and Trajectory Analyses Reveal Viremia-Independent B-Cell Perturbations in HIV-2 Infection
- 2022
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Ingår i: Cells. - : MDPI. - 2073-4409. ; 11:19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Time to AIDS in HIV-2 infection is approximately twice as long compared to in HIV-1 infection. Despite reduced viremia, HIV-2-infected individuals display signs of chronic immune activation. In HIV-1-infected individuals, B-cell hyperactivation is driven by continuous antigen exposure. However, the contribution of viremia to B-cell perturbations in HIV-2-infected individuals remains largely unexplored. Here, we used polychromatic flow cytometry, consensus hierarchical clustering and pseudotime trajectory inference to characterize B-cells in HIV-1- or HIV-2-infected and in HIV seronegative individuals. We observed increased frequencies of clusters containing hyperactivated T-bethighCD95highCD27int and proliferating T-bet+CD95highCD27+CD71+ memory B-cells in viremic HIV-1 (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively), viremic HIV-2 (p < 0.001 and p = 0.014, respectively) and in treatment-naïve aviremic HIV-2 (p = 0.004 and p = 0.020, respectively)-infected individuals, compared to seronegative individuals. In contrast, these expansions were not observed in successfully treated HIV-1-infected individuals. Finally, pseudotime trajectory inference showed that T-bet-expressing hyperactivated and proliferating memory B-cell populations were located at the terminal end of two trajectories, in both HIV-1 and HIV-2 infections. As the treatment-naïve aviremic HIV-2-infected individuals, but not the successfully ART-treated HIV-1-infected individuals, showed B-cell perturbations, our data suggest that aviremic HIV-2-infected individuals would also benefit from antiretroviral treatment.
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