About the Authors

Silvia D'Ippolito

Contributed equally to this work with: Silvia D'Ippolito, Riccardo Marana

Affiliation Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Riccardo Marana

Contributed equally to this work with: Silvia D'Ippolito, Riccardo Marana

Affiliations Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy, Istituto Scientifico Internazionale Paolo VI, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Fiorella Di Nicuolo

Affiliation Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Roberta Castellani

Affiliation Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Manuela Veglia

Affiliation Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

John Stinson

Affiliation LEO Pharma, Ballerup, Denmark

Giovanni Scambia

Affiliation Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Nicoletta Di Simone

nicolettadisimone@rm.unicatt.it

Affiliation Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy

Competing Interests

JS is a full-time salaried employee of LEO Pharma. NDS has been a conference speaker for LEO Pharma on one occasion, in February 2011. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: NDS. Performed the experiments: FDN RC. Analyzed the data: NDS SD FDN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RM JS. Wrote the paper: SD NDS. Collection of biological samples: MV. Final review of the manuscript: NDS RM JS GS. Edited written English: RM JS.