About the Authors

Anika Wranke

Wedemeyer.Heiner@mh-hannover.de (HW); awranke@freenet.de (AW)

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

Benjamin Heidrich

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, Integrated Research and Treatment Center Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Stefanie Ernst

Affiliation Institute for Biometry, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Beatriz Calle Serrano

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

Florin Alexandru Caruntu

Affiliation Institutul de Boli Infectioase, Bucharest, Romania

Manuela Gabriela Curescu

Affiliation Spitalul Clinic de Boli Infectioase, Timisoara, Romania

Kendal Yalcin

Affiliation Dicle University Medical Faculty, Diyarbakir, Turkey

Selim Gürel

Affiliation Uludağ University Medical Faculty, Bursa, Turkey

Stefan Zeuzem

Affiliation Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Medical Center, Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Andreas Erhardt

Affiliation Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany

Stefan Lüth

Affiliation University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

George V. Papatheodoridis

Affiliation Athens University School of Medicine, Athens, Greece

Birgit Bremer

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

Judith Stift

Affiliation Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

Jan Grabowski

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

Janina Kirschner

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

Kerstin Port

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

Christine S. Falk

Affiliation Institute of Transplant Immunology, IFB-Tx, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Hans-Peter Dienes

Affiliation HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany

Svenja Hardtke

Affiliation HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany

Michael P. Manns

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, Integrated Research and Treatment Center Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Cihan Yurdaydin

Affiliation Ankara University Medical Faculty, Ankara, Turkey

Heiner Wedemeyer

Wedemeyer.Heiner@mh-hannover.de (HW); awranke@freenet.de (AW)

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, Integrated Research and Treatment Center Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Side HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany

HIDIT-2 Study Group

Affiliation HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany

Competing Interests

Prof. Heiner Wedemeyer currently serves as a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria. The German Hep-Net Study House, Roche and Gilead funded the HIDIT-2 study. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AW MPM CY HW. Performed the experiments: AW BB JG CSF. Analyzed the data: AW SE. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AW BH BCS FAC MGC KY SG SZ AE SL GVP JS JK KP MC HPD SH MPM CY HW. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: AW HW. Suggestions for improvement and proofreading: BH SE BCS FAC MGC KY SG SZ AE SL GVP BB JS JK KP MC CSF HPD SH MPM CY HW.