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Jobst Henker

Publications and source records attributed to Jobst Henker.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Longitudinal follow-up examination of antigliadin antibody positive children and adults.

BACKGROUND: We previously investigated the prevalence of asymptomatic celiac disease in 3004 healthy children and 4313 adult blood donors by screening for IgA and IgG class antigliadin antibodies (AGA) and IgA class anti-endomysial antibodies (EmA). In none of the 162 exclusive AGA-positive adults and in only one of the 117 exclusive AGA-positive children could celiac disease be diagnosed. We followed up AGA-positive individuals in respect of the significance of the AGA. METHODS: All AGA-positive children and adults were invited for a follow-up clinical examination and laboratory investigations including AGA-IgA, AGA-IgG and EmA. Celiac disease-specific antibodies were also determined in stool samples. RESULTS: Sixty-nine adults and 47 children returned for follow-up. In 26 (37.7%) cases of the 69 adults formerly tested AGA-positive, AGA were still detectable after an average period of 3.7 years. In 21 (44.7%) cases of 47 formerly AGA-positive children, AGA were still detectable after an average period of 4.3 years. None of the 69 adults and 47 children showed seroconversion to EmA. There were no significant abnormalities in the laboratory results or any clinical signs of enteropathy. The appearance of fecal and serum antibodies was compared in 112 subjects but no correlation between fecal and serum antigliadin antibodies was found. CONCLUSIONS: In both studied populations of adults and children, AGA disappeared in more than 50% of the cases. The appearance of AGA has to be interpreted as a non-specific immunomodulation phenomenon, confirming the low specificity of AGA as a serologic marker for celiac disease.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Influence of CARD15 mutations on disease activity and response to therapy in 65 pediatric Crohn patients from Saxony, Germany.

OBJECTIVES: Certain genetic variants in the CARD15 gene are accompanied by an enhanced risk to develop Crohn disease with the main activity in the terminal ileum and ensuing stricturing early in life. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relation between CARD15 mutations and overall disease activity and response to therapy in pediatric patients. METHODS: 65 genomic DNA samples from such patients were tested for the presence of three main Crohn associated mutations in CARD15 by direct genomic sequencing. The number of mutations (none, one or two alleles affected) was correlated with body mass index and height, Pediatric Crohn Disease Activity Index, therapy and therapeutical success in terms of body mass index and Pediatric Crohn Disease Activity Index improvement. RESULTS: The authors found a nonsignificant trend of a lower body mass index and higher Pediatric Crohn Disease Activity Index in patients with CARD15 mutations. Physicians uninformed about their CARD15 status prescribed significantly more budesonide and prednisolone intermittently and more alimentary supplementation to these patients. The average improvement in terms of body mass index and Pediatric Crohn Disease Activity Index after 2 years of therapy was roughly similar in all patient groups. CONCLUSIONS: Pediatric Crohn patients with CARD15 mutations have a higher disease activity and need a more intensive therapy. With some exceptions, their medium-term response to therapy is nevertheless satisfying.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

A simple and rapid single-step multiplex RT-PCR to detect Norovirus, Astrovirus and Adenovirus in clinical stool samples.

A single-step multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay that detects and identifies Norovirus, Astrovirus and Adenovirus in clinical stool samples is described. Four hundred sixty stool samples were tested from patients with non-rotavirus acute gastroenteritis, that were either stored at -80 degrees C and tested retrospectively, or tested immediately after viral nucleic acid extraction in a prospective manner, including outbreaks of gastroenteritis that occurred in Germany during the winter of 2003. The multiplex RT-PCR was validated against simplex RT-PCR with published primers for Norovirus (JV12/JV13 and p289/p290) and Astrovirus (Mon340/348), and against simplex PCR for Adenovirus. In both retrospective and prospective settings, the multiplex RT-PCR was equally sensitive and specific in detecting non-rotavirus infections compared with simplex RT-PCR/PCR. The specificity of the multiplex RT-PCR was assessed by sequencing of the amplicons that showed high nucleotide identities to Norovirus genogroup I/1, I/4, II/2, or II/4 clades, as well as to Astrovirus serotypes 1, 2, 4, or 8. The multiplex RT-PCR was also more sensitive than Astrovirus and Norovirus antigen enzyme immunoassays (IDEIA, Dako), as well as Astrovirus isolation in cell culture. This novel multiplex RT-PCR is an attractive technique for the rapid, specific, and cost-effective laboratory diagnosis of non-rotavirus acute gastroenteritis.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed2003

CARD15 genotype and phenotype analysis in 55 pediatric patients with Crohn disease from Saxony, Germany.

OBJECTIVES: Crohn disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disorder that is caused by environmental and genetic factors. Mutations in the CARD15 gene have been recently identified to be associated with the disease. Until now no genetic study has focused directly on a pediatric population. METHODS: The authors sequenced all 12 exons of the CARD15 gene in 55 pediatric patients with Crohn disease from Saxony. Their average age at onset was 11.2 years (1-17.5 years). The authors also evaluated the genotype-phenotype relationship in the patients. RESULTS: Fourteen different polymorphic and/or disease-related nucleotide alterations have been identified in the patients. Sixty-five percent of their genomic DNA samples harbored at least one of six mutations within the CARD15 gene, which previously has been identified as being associated with Crohn disease. The authors found that the cytosine insertion mutation 3020insC was significantly more common in their pediatric population than in patients with Crohn disease (26% versus 11% of the alleles) whose results were reported in the literature. The genotype-phenotype analysis showed that the authors' patients with at least one of the six CARD15 disease-associated mutations had a high risk of inflammation located in the terminal ileum and ascending colon. In 10 of 19 patients with two mutations, intestinal resection surgery was necessary because of stricturing. CONCLUSIONS: In the authors' pediatric patients, the genetic influence on Crohn disease was more pronounced than that reported in any other study, and it strongly affected the clinical phenotype.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Serological differentiation of inflammatory bowel diseases.

OBJECTIVE: In order to shorten the diagnostic procedures simple serological tests with high diagnostic value for Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are required. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the diagnostic value of a newly developed assay for the determination of antibodies to mannan of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in combination with antibodies to antigens of exocrine pancreas, goblet cells, human neutrophils and tissue transglutaminase. METHODS: Sera from 112 patients with Crohn's disease (82 confirmed and 30 suspected cases), 65 patients with ulcerative colitis, 13 patients with indeterminate colitis, 212 patients with other diseases and 250 healthy blood donors were tested for IgA and IgG antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae and IgA to tissue transglutaminase by enzyme-linked immunoassays. Endomysial IgA antibodies and antibodies to antigens of exocrine pancreas, goblet cells and human neutrophils were determined by indirect immunofluorescence. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae and different antibody combinations were determined regarding the diagnosis of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. RESULTS: Antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae were detected in 50% of confirmed and 27% of patients suspected of having Crohn's disease. Among patients who did not have Crohn's disease only those suffering from gluten-sensitive enteropathy and primary biliary cirrhosis exhibited antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae (14%, 6%). With respect to antibody positivity, antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae and/or antibodies to antigens of exocrine pancreas combined with tissue transglutaminase antibody negativity yields a sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of 60%, 100%, 100% and 90%, respectively, regarding diagnosis of Crohn's disease. CONCLUSIONS: Determination of antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae as a new marker for Crohn's disease is helpful for the differential diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease. In combination with other established serological markers, antibodies to mannan of S. cerevisiae improve their diagnostic and predictive values considerably.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Production of recombinant human tissue transglutaminase using the baculovirus expression system, and its application for serological diagnosis of coeliac disease.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tissue transglutaminase was identified as the main autoantigen in coeliac disease (CD) but enzyme immunoassays applying the commercially available antigen from guinea pig liver show insufficient specificity and sensitivity for diagnosis as compared with endomysium antibodies (EmA). The aim of this present study was to develop a new method for the cloning and expression of human tissue transglutaminase (hu-tTG) and to test hu-tTG in the serological diagnosis of CD. METHODS: Hu-tTG was cloned and expressed using a baculovirus system and SF9 insect cells. The enzyme carried a C-terminal His tag allowing efficient affinity purification from cell lysates. The recognition of hu-tTG by human sera was checked by using an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). For this, 35 patients with active CD were compared with 144 controls (18 patients with bioptically excluded CD, 89 blood donors, 30 patients with inflammatory bowel disease, and seven patients with cystic fibrosis). RESULTS: The ELISA using hu-tTG showed a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 98.6%. Titres of antibodies against hu-tTG (anti-hu-tTG) were positively correlated with EmA titres. All results negative for EmA were also negative for anti-hu-tTG. There were, however, EmA positive results up to a titre of 1 : 80 below the cut-off for anti-hu-tTG. For comparison, antibodies against guinea pig tissue transglutaminase (anti-gp-tTG) were determined in parallel. All patients with anti-hu-tTG below the cut-off were also negative for anti-gp-tTG. However, there were eight patients positive for anti-hu-tTG but negative for anti-gp-tTG. CONCLUSIONS: The new test reaches and even exceeds diagnostic efficiency of EmA for coeliac diagnosis.

Adolescent↗