About the Authors

Takanori Hama

Contributed equally to this work with: Takanori Hama, Chihiro Norizoe

Affiliations Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Chihiro Norizoe

Contributed equally to this work with: Takanori Hama, Chihiro Norizoe

Affiliation Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Hiroaki Suga

Affiliations Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, Tokyo, Japan

Takeshi Mimura

Affiliations Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, Tokyo, Japan

Takakuni Kato

Affiliation Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Hiroshi Moriyama

Affiliation Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Mitsuyoshi Urashima

urashima@jikei.ac.jp

Affiliations Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, Tokyo, Japan, Department of Pediatrics, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TH MU. Performed the experiments: TH CN HS TM MU. Analyzed the data: TH CN MU. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TH CN HS TM TK HM MU. Wrote the paper: TH MU.