About the Authors

Antoaneta A. Markova

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Ulrike Mihm

Affiliation Department of Medicine 1, JW Goethe-University Hospital, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Verena Schlaphoff

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Sebastian Lunemann

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Natalie Filmann

Affiliation Institute of Biostatistics and Mathematical Modelling, Faculty of Medicine, JW Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Birgit Bremer

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Thomas Berg

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Rheumatology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Christoph Sarrazin

Affiliation Department of Medicine 1, JW Goethe-University Hospital, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Stefan Zeuzem

Affiliation Department of Medicine 1, JW Goethe-University Hospital, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Michael P. Manns

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Markus Cornberg

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Eva Herrmann

Affiliation Institute of Biostatistics and Mathematical Modelling, Faculty of Medicine, JW Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Heiner Wedemeyer

Wedemeyer.Heiner@mh-hannover.de

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Competing Interests

AM, UM, VS, SL, NF, BB, CS, EH and TB have declared that no competing interests exist. SZ: Consultancies for AbbVie, BMS, Boehringer, Gilead, Idenix, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Santaris, Verte. MC: Lecture fees from Roche, Merck (MSD), Gilead, Boehringer, BMS, Falk Consultant fees from Roche, Merck (MSD), Gilead, Novartis, Boehringer Reseach support from Roche, Merck (MSD), Gilead. MPM: Consultant/Lecture fees from Abbott, Abbie, BMS, Boehringer, Falk, Gilead, JJ/Janssen-Cilag, MSD, Norgine, Novartis, Roche, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens. HW: Consultant/Lecture fees from Abbott, Abbie, Biolex, BMS, Boehringer, Falk, Gilead, ITS, JJ/Janssen-Cilag, Medgenetics, MSD, Norgine, Novartis, Roche, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens, Transgene, ViiV. Reseach support from Abbott, BMS, Gilead, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens. The authors confirm that co-author Heiner Wedemeyer is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. The authors confirm that this does not alter your adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria. The authors confirm the relationships to the sponsor Roche Germany did not alter the adherence of the authors to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the PlosOne our guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AM VS HW. Performed the experiments: AM VS BB. Analyzed the data: AM VS SL CS NF EH HW. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: UM TB CS SZ MPM. Wrote the paper: AM VS SL MC MPM EH HW.