About the Authors

Antonella Pantaleo

Affiliation Department of Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Emanuela Ferru

Affiliation Section of Internal Medicine, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

Franco Carta

Affiliation Nurex S.r.l., Sassari, Italy

Franca Mannu

Affiliation Nurex S.r.l., Sassari, Italy

Luigi F. Simula

Affiliation Hospital of Alghero, ASL 1- Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Amina Khadjavi

Affiliation Department of Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Proto Pippia

Affiliation Department of Physiological, Biochemical and Cell Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Francesco Turrini

francesco.turrini@unito.it

Affiliation Department of Genetics, Biology and Biochemistry, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AP EF FM FC FT. Performed the experiments: AP EF FM FC AK. Analyzed the data: FT PP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FC. Wrote the paper: AP EF FT LFS. Blood sample collection: LFS. Designed the experiments: PP.