About the Authors

Makoto Yoshida

Affiliations Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan, Division of Clinical Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Rishu Takimoto

Affiliations Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan, Division of Clinical Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Kazuyuki Murase

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Yasushi Sato

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Masahiro Hirakawa

Affiliations Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan, Division of Clinical Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Fumito Tamura

Affiliations Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan, Division of Clinical Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Tsutomu Sato

Affiliations Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan, Division of Molecular Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Satoshi Iyama

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Takahiro Osuga

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Koji Miyanishi

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Kohichi Takada

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Tsuyoshi Hayashi

Affiliation Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan

Masayoshi Kobune

Affiliation Division of Molecular Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Junji Kato

jkato@sapmed.ac.jp

Affiliations Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan, Division of Clinical Oncology, Sapporo Medical University Graduate School of Medicine, chuo-ku, Sapporo, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RT JK. Performed the experiments: MY RT K. Murase YS MH FT TO. Analyzed the data: RT JK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TS K. Miyanishi SI KT TH MK. Wrote the paper: RT YM JK.