About the Authors

Fiorella Calabrese

fiorella.calabrese@unipd.it

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Anja Kipar

Affiliations Department of Infection Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, Veterinary Pathology, Department of Basic Veterinary Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Francesca Lunardi

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Elisabetta Balestro

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Egle Perissinotto

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Emanuela Rossi

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Nazarena Nannini

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Giuseppe Marulli

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

James P. Stewart

Affiliations Department of Infection Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom, School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Federico Rea

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: FC AK JPS FR. Performed the experiments: FL EB NN AK JPS GM. Analyzed the data: FC FL ER EP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FC AK JPS EB GM FR. Wrote the paper: FC AK JPS.