Viruses causing hepatitis of unknown etiology (Hep-X)
Acute hepatitis is usually caused by known (hepatitis) viruses, toxic substances, or autoimmune diseases. In about 10-20 percent of cases of acute hepatitis, however, no such cause can be found. Many of these cases show laboratory or histologic evidence of a viral etiology, but the known viruses that cause acute hepatitis are not detectable. New viruses that can cause acute hepatitis (e.g. Rocahepevirus ratti or the human circovirus HCirV-1) are repeatedly described in case reports in the literature. However, there is a lack of epidemiological data on the frequency of these pathogens in patients with unclear hepatitis and their prevalence in the general population. Only the clarification of the exact cause of unclear hepatitis allows a personalized therapy and can improve the prognosis of these patients.
The following tasks will be performed in this project:
- Establishment and expansion of patient cohorts with unclear acute hepatitis or acute-on-chronic liver failure
- Identification of new or previously insufficiently researched viruses that trigger acute hepatitis, e.g. through next-generation sequencing (NGS)
- Development and provision of diagnostic tests such as highly specific PCR-based assays to detect these new viruses
- Isolation of these novel viruses and establishment of a cell culture model for further characterization of these pathogens.