About the Authors

Ko-Lin Kuo

Affiliations Department and Institute of Physiology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan, Division of Nephrology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taipei Branch, Taipei, Taiwan

Szu-Chun Hung

Affiliations School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan, Division of Nephrology, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taipei Branch, Taipei, Taiwan

Yao-Ping Lin

Affiliation Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine and Immunology Centre, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Ching-Fang Tang

Affiliation Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine and Immunology Centre, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Tzong-Shyuan Lee

Affiliation Department and Institute of Physiology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan

Chih-Pei Lin

cplin@vghtpe.gov.tw (C-PL); dctarng@vghtpe.gov.tw (D-CT)

Affiliations Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine and Institute of Biotechnology in Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Division of General Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Der-Cherng Tarng

cplin@vghtpe.gov.tw (C-PL); dctarng@vghtpe.gov.tw (D-CT)

Affiliations Department and Institute of Physiology, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine and Immunology Centre, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: K-LK D-CT. Performed the experiments: K-LK S-CH Y-PL C-FT D-CT. Analyzed the data: K-LK D-CT Y-PL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: Y-PL C-FT T-SL C-PL. Wrote the paper: K-LK S-CH. Reviewed and edited the manuscript: D-CT.