About the Authors

Elisa Barbati

Affiliations Department of Inflammation and Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

Claudia Specchia

Affiliations Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy

Massimo Villella

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Marco Luciano Rossi

Affiliation Department of Interventional Cardiology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy

Simona Barlera

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

Barbara Bottazzi

Affiliation Department of Inflammation and Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy

Luisa Crociati

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

Carmela d’Arienzo

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Raffaele Fanelli

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Cecilia Garlanda

Affiliation Department of Inflammation and Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy

Francesca Gori

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

Ruggiero Mango

Affiliation Department of Interventional Cardiology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy

Alberto Mantovani

Affiliations Department of Inflammation and Immunology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy, Department of Translational Medicine, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

Giuseppe Merla

Affiliation Medical Genetics Unit, IRCCS Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Enrico B. Nicolis

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

Silvia Pietri

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

Patrizia Presbitero

Affiliation Department of Interventional Cardiology, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy

Yukio Sudo

Affiliation Perseus Proteomics Inc., Tokyo, Japan

Alessandro Villella

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, F. Lastaria Hospital, Lucera, Italy

Maria Grazia Franzosi

mariagrazia.franzosi@marionegri.it

Affiliation Department of Cardiovascular Research, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri”, Milan, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: AM and BB have filed a patent application for the use of PTX3 as a therapeutic (US20070882180 20070731); AM is member of the Advisory Board of Perseus Proteomics. EB, CS, MV, MLR, SB, LC, CdA, RF, CG, FG, RM, GM, EN, SP, PP, AV, MGF report no conflicts. YS is part of the internal staff of Perseus Proteomics, Japan. Reagents for measuring PTX3 were kindly donated by Perseus Proteomics, Japan. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MLR RM. Performed the experiments: EB LC CdA FG SP. Analyzed the data: CS SB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YS. Wrote the paper: EB CS MGF. Database management: EBN. Patients recruitment and samples collection: MV MLR RM LC SP AV. Revising article: EB CS MV MLR SB BB LC CdA RF CG FG RM AM GM EBN SP PP YS AV MGF. Had the opportunity to review the final draft: EB CS MV MLR SB BB LC CdA RF CG FG RM AM GM EBN SP PP YS AV MGF.