About the Authors

Konstantinos Voskarides

Current address: Medical School, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Charalambos Stefanou

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Myrtani Pieri

Current address: School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Panayiota Demosthenous

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Kyriakos Felekkis

Current address: School of Sciences and Engineering, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Maria Arsali

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, Limassol General Hospital, Limassol, Cyprus

Yiannis Athanasiou

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, Nicosia General Hospital, Nicosia, Cyprus

Dimitris Xydakis

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Kostas Stylianou

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Eugenios Daphnis

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Giorgos Goulielmos

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Section of Molecular Medicine and Human Genetics, Medical School, University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece

Petros Loizou

Affiliation Private Clinical Laboratory, Paralimni, Cyprus

Judith Savige

Affiliation Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Northern Health, Epping, Australia

Martin Höhne

Affiliations Department 2 of Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, Systems Biology of Ageing Cologne (Sybacol), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Linus A. Völker

Affiliation Department 2 of Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Thomas Benzing

Affiliations Department 2 of Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, Systems Biology of Ageing Cologne (Sybacol), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany, Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

Patrick H. Maxwell

Affiliation Division of Medicine, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Daniel P. Gale

Affiliation UCL Centre for Nephrology, University College London, London, United Kingdom

Mathias Gorski

Affiliations Department of Nephrology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany, Department of Genetic Epidemiology, University Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Carsten Böger

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, University Hospital Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Barbara Kollerits

Affiliation Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Florian Kronenberg

Affiliation Division of Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Medical Genetics, Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria

Bernhard Paulweber

Affiliation First Department of Internal Medicine, Paracelsus Private Medical University Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

Michalis Zavros

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, Nicosia General Hospital, Nicosia, Cyprus

Alkis Pierides

Affiliation Department of Nephrology, Hippocrateon Hospital, Nicosia, Cyprus

Constantinos Deltas

deltas@ucy.ac.cy

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences and Molecular Medicine Research Center, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

Competing Interests

Petros Loizou is employed by Private Clinical Laboratory, Paralimni, Cyprus. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: KV CD. Data curation: KV DPG MG CB BK FK BP. Formal analysis: KV MG CB BK. Funding acquisition: PHM FK BP CD. Investigation: KV CS MP PD KF PL MH LAV DPG MG TB. Methodology: KV. Project administration: CD. Resources: MA YA DX KS ED GG JS PHM DPG FK BP MZ AP. Supervision: ED JS TB PHM FK BP MZ AP CD. Validation: KV CD. Visualization: KV CS MH CB. Writing – original draft: KV CD. Writing – review & editing: KV CD.