About the Authors

Keisuke Izumi

izz@keio.jp

Affiliations Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, Department of Connective Tissue Diseases, National Tokyo Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

Yuko Kaneko

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Misato Hashizume

Affiliation Product Research Department, Fuji-Gotemba Research Laboratories, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Gotemba, Japan

Keiko Yoshimoto

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Tsutomu Takeuchi

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Competing Interests

KI, KY, and YK declare that they have no competing interests. MH is an employee of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd. TT has received grants from Astellas Pharma Inc, Bristol-Myers KK, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, Daiichi Sankyo Co, Ltd, Eisai Co, Ltd, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp, Pfizer Japan, Santen Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, Teijin Pharma Ltd, AbbVie GK, Asahi Kasei Pharma Corp, Taisho Toyama Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, and SymBio Pharmaceuticals Ltd; speaking fees from AbbVie GK, Bristol-Myers KK, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, Eisai Co, Ltd, Janssen Pharmaceutical KK, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp, Pfizer Japan Inc, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, Ltd, Astellas Pharma Inc, and Daiichi Sankyo Co, Ltd; and consultant fees from Astra Zeneca KK, Eli Lilly Japan KK, Novartis Pharma KK, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corp, Asahi Kasei Medical Co, Ltd, AbbVie GK, Daiichi Sankyo Co, Ltd, and Bristol-Myers KK. All of the authors declare that they have no non-financial conflicts of interest. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: KI YK TT. Performed the experiments: KI MH KY. Analyzed the data: KI YK MH TT. Wrote the paper: KI. Drafting the manuscript: KI YK MH KY TT.