About the Authors

Meirong Du

Affiliations Laboratory for Reproductive Immunology, Hospital and Institute of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, Medical College, Shanghai, China, Departments of Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada

Qing Qiu

Affiliations Departments of Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada

Andree Gruslin

Affiliations Departments of Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada

John Gordon

Affiliation Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada

Miao He

Affiliation WuXi AppTech Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China

Chi Chung Chan

Affiliation WuXi AppTech Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China

Dajin Li

djli@shmu.edu.cn (DJL) (DL); btsang@ohri.ca (BKT) (BT)

Affiliations Laboratory for Reproductive Immunology, Hospital and Institute of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University Shanghai, Medical College, Shanghai, China, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Hainan Medical College Affiliated Hospital, Haikou, China

Benjamin K. Tsang

djli@shmu.edu.cn (DJL) (DL); btsang@ohri.ca (BKT) (BT)

Affiliations Departments of Cellular & Molecular Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada, Chronic Disease Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Hainan Medical College Affiliated Hospital, Haikou, China, World Class University (WCU) Biomodulation Major, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Republic of Korea

Competing Interests

Although two of the authors (Miao He and Chi Chung Chan) are employees of the company WuXi AppTech Co., Ltd., this does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The company has no declarations relating to employment, consultancy, patents, products in development or marketed products as they relate to this project/manuscript. Other authors of this manuscript (Meirong Du, Qing Qiu, Andree Gruslin, John Gordon, Dajin Li and Benjamin K. Tsang) have no financial or other interests with the company and have confirmed their declaration that they have no competing interests as defined by PLOS ONE.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MRD QQ AG DJL BKT. Performed the experiments: MRD QQ. Analyzed the data: MRD QQ AG CCC DJL BKT. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MRD QQ JG MH. Wrote the paper: MRD QQ DJL BKT.