About the Authors

Hiroshi Furukawa

h-furukawa@sagamihara-hosp.gr.jp

Affiliation Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, Sagamihara Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara, Japan

Shomi Oka

Affiliation Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, Sagamihara Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara, Japan

Kota Shimada

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, Fuchu, Japan

Shoji Sugii

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, Fuchu, Japan

Atsushi Hashimoto

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Sagamihara Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara, Japan

Akiko Komiya

Affiliation Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, Sagamihara Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara, Japan

Naoshi Fukui

Affiliation Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, Sagamihara Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara, Japan

Tatsuo Nagai

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology and Infectious Disease, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan

Shunsei Hirohata

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology and Infectious Disease, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Japan

Keigo Setoguchi

Affiliation Allergy and Immunological Diseases, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Diseases Center Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

Akira Okamoto

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Himeji Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Himeji, Japan

Noriyuki Chiba

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Morioka Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Morioka, Japan

Eiichi Suematsu

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine and Rheumatology, Clinical Research Institute, National Hospital Organization, Kyushu Medical Center, Fukuoka, Japan

Taiichiro Miyashita

Affiliation Nagasaki Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Omura, Japan

Kiyoshi Migita

Affiliation Nagasaki Medical Center, National Hospital Organization, Omura, Japan

Akiko Suda

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Yokohama Minami Kyosai Hospital, Yokohama, Japan

Shouhei Nagaoka

Affiliation Department of Rheumatology, Yokohama Minami Kyosai Hospital, Yokohama, Japan

Naoyuki Tsuchiya

Affiliation Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

Shigeto Tohma

Affiliation Clinical Research Center for Allergy and Rheumatology, Sagamihara Hospital, National Hospital Organization, Sagamihara, Japan

Competing Interests

HF has the following conflicts. The following funders are supported in whole or in part by the indicated pharmaceutical companies. The Japan Research Foundation for Clinical Pharmacology is run by Daiichi Sankyo, the Takeda Science Foundation is supported by an endowment from Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and the Nakatomi Foundation was established by Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co., Inc. The Daiwa Securities Health Foundation was established by Daiwa Securities Group Inc. ST was supported by research grants from nine pharmaceutical companies: Abbott Japan Co., Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Merck Sharp and Dohme Inc., Pfizer Japan Inc., Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, and Teijin Pharma Limited. NT is supported by the Takeda Science Foundation, which is supported by an endowment from the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The other authors declare no financial or commercial conflicts of interest.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HF NT ST. Performed the experiments: HF SO. Analyzed the data: HF. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HF K. Shimada SS AH AK NF TN SH K. Setoguchi AO NC ES TM KM AS SN ST. Wrote the paper: HF NT ST.