About the Authors

Benjamin Heidrich

Contributed equally to this work with: Benjamin Heidrich, Steffen B. Wiegand

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Steffen B. Wiegand

Contributed equally to this work with: Benjamin Heidrich, Steffen B. Wiegand

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Peter Buggisch

Affiliation IFI Institute for Interdisciplinary Medicine, Asklepios Klinik St Georg, Hamburg, Germany

Holger Hinrichsen

Affiliation Gastroenterology, Gastroenterologische Schwerpunkt Praxis, Kiel, Germany

Ralph Link

Affiliation St. Josefs hospital, Offenburg, Germany

Bernd Möller

Affiliation Medical Practice, Berlin, Germany

Klaus H. W. Böker

Affiliation Leberpraxis, Hannover, Germany

Gerlinde Teuber

Affiliation Gastroenterological Practice, Frankfurt, Germany

Hartwig Klinker

Affiliation Dept. of Internal Medicine II, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Elmar Zehnter

Affiliation Gastroenterological Practice, Dortmund, Germany

Uwe Naumann

Affiliation Center for Addiction-Medicine, Hepatology and HIV, Praxiszentrum Kaiserdamm, Berlin, Germany

Heiner W. Busch

Affiliation Medical Practice, Münster, Germany

Benjamin Maasoumy

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Undine Baum

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Svenja Hardtke

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Michael P. Manns

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Heiner Wedemeyer

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

Jörg Petersen

Affiliation IFI Institute for Interdisciplinary Medicine, Asklepios Klinik St Georg, Hamburg, Germany

Markus Cornberg

Cornberg.Markus@mh-hannover.de

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, German Liver Foundation, HepNet Study-House, Hannover, Germany, and German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Hannover-Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany

for the HepNet Study Group

Competing Interests

Markus Cornberg has read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Benjamin Heidrich: nothing to disclose; Steffen B. Wiegand: nothing to disclose; Peter Buggisch: Honoraria for consulting or speaking: Gilead, Roche, MSD, Janssen, BMS und AbbVie; Holger Hinrichsen: nothing to disclose; Ralph Link: nothing to disclose; Bernd Möller: nothing to disclose; Klaus H. W. Böker: Honoraria for speaking: Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Gilead, Roche Pharma, Merck (MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH), Novartis; Janssen-Cilag, Gilead; Gerlinde Teuber: received financial support for advise and talk from: Roche, MSD, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen-Cilag, Gilead, AbbVie; Hartwig Klinker: received grants, Board membership fees and lecture fees from: AbbVie, Boehringer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Glaxo-SmithKline, Hexal, Janssen-Cilag, MSD, Roche, and ViiV Healthcare; Elmar Zehnter: nothing to disclose; Uwe Naumann: received financial support for research, advise and talk from: Roche, MSD, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen-Cilag, Gilead, ViiV, AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim; Heiner W. Busch: Honoraria for speaking: Gilead, Janssen-Cilag, MSD Sharp & Dohme, Roche, ViiV; Benjamin Maasoumy: Honoraria for consulting or speaking: Roche Pharma, Roche Diagnostics, Abbott Molecular, Merck, MSD Sharp & Dohme, Janssen/Janssen TE, Fujirebio; Undine Baum: nothing to disclose; Svenja Hardtke: nothing to disclose; Michael P. Manns: received financial compensation for consultancy and/or lecture activities from: Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Gilead, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, Merck, Janssen, Idenix and GlaxoSmithKline, and research grants from: Roche, Gilead, Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck and Janssen; Heiner Wedemeyer: Honoraria for consulting or speaking: Abbott, Abvie, Biolex, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Gilead, ITS, JJ/Janssen-Cilag, Medgenics, Merck/Schering-Plough, Novartis, Roche, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens, Transgene, ViiV and research grants: Abbott, BMS, Gilead, Merck, Novartis, Roche Diagnostics, Siemens; Jörg Petersen: Grant/Research Support: BMS, Novartis, Roche and Consultant/Advisor: Abbott, AbbVie, BMS, Boehringer, Gilead, GSK, Kedrion, Janssen, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Roche and Sponsored lectures: Abbott, BMS, Boehringer, Gilead, Kedrion, Janssen, Merck, MSD, Novartis, Roche; Markus Cornberg: Lecture fees: Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Gilead, Roche Pharma, Roche Diagnostics, Merck (MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH), Novartis, Falk and research support: Gilead, Roche Pharma, Roche Diagnostics, Merck (MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH) and consultant fees: Abbvie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Gilead, Roche Pharma, Roche Diagnostics, Merck (MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH), Novartis. This registry was financially supported by MSD Sharp & Dohme GmbH (manufacturer of pegylated interferon alpha-2b). The protocol and the contracts did not intend to influence the decision to treat patients with pegylated interferon alpha-2b. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MC HW MPM BH SBW. Performed the experiments: PB HH RL BM KHWB GT HK EZ UN HWB UB SH MPM HW JP MC BH SBW. Analyzed the data: BH SBW MC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PB HH RL BM KHWB GT HK EZ UN HWB UB SH MPM HW JP MC BH SBW. Wrote the paper: BH SBW MC HW BM.