About the Authors

Xiaofang Wang

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Suzhen Wang

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Changcheng Li

Affiliations Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America, Department of Prosthodontics, School of Stomatology, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China

Tian Gao

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Ying Liu

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Afsaneh Rangiani

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Yao Sun

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Jianjun Hao

Affiliation Department of Craniofacial Sciences, Division of Orthodontics, School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, United States of America

Anne George

Affiliation Department of Oral Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Yongbo Lu

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Jay Groppe

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Baozhi Yuan

Affiliations Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America, Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Centers, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America

Jian Q. Feng

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Chunlin Qin

cqin@bcd.tamhsc.edu

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Baylor College of Dentistry, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: X Wang, C Qin. Performed the experiments: X Wang, S Wang, C Li, T Gao, Y Liu, A Rangiani, Y Sun, B Yuan. Analyzed the data: X Wang, C Qin, JQ Feng, Y Lu, J Groppe, B Yuan. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: J Hao, A George, JQ Feng, B Yuan. Wrote the paper: X Wang, C Qin, JQ Feng.