About the Authors

Akira Saito

asaitou-tky@umin.ac.jp

Affiliations Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan, Division for Health Service Promotion, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Hiroshi I. Suzuki

Affiliation Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Masafumi Horie

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Mitsuhiro Ohshima

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, Ohu University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tomitamachi, Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan

Yasuyuki Morishita

Affiliation Department of Molecular Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Yoshimitsu Abiko

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Matsudo, Chiba, Japan

Takahide Nagase

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AS HS MH TN. Performed the experiments: AS HS MH YM. Analyzed the data: AS HS MH MO YA. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AS HS MH YM MO YA. Wrote the paper: AS HS MH TN.