About the Authors

James D. Berry

jdberry@partners.org

Affiliation Neurology Clinical Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Jeremy M. Shefner

Affiliation Department of NeurologyState University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, United States of America

Robin Conwit

Affiliation National Institute of Neurologic Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

David Schoenfeld

Affiliation Department of Biostatistics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Myles Keroack

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Marshfield Clinic, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, United States of America

Donna Felsenstein

Affiliation Infectious Disease Unit/Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Lisa Krivickas

Affiliation Neurology Clinical Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

William S. David

Affiliation Neurology Clinical Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Francine Vriesendorp

Affiliation Department of NeurologyState University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, United States of America

Alan Pestronk

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America

James B. Caress

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States of America

Jonathan Katz

Affiliation Department of Neurology, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, California, United States of America

Ericka Simpson

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Methodist Neurological Institute, Houston, Texas, United States of America

Jeffrey Rosenfeld

Affiliation Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco Fresno, Neuroscience Institute, Fresno, California, United States of America

Robert Pascuzzi

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Jonathan Glass

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Kourosh Rezania

Affiliation Department of Neurology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

Jeffrey D. Rothstein

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

David J. Greenblatt

Affiliation Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Merit E. Cudkowicz

Affiliation Neurology Clinical Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

for the Northeast ALS Consortium

Members of the Northeast ALS Consortium are provided in File S1

Competing Interests

JDB has served as a consultant to Biogen Idec and as a paid speaker for Oakstone Publishing. He receives research report from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and ALS Therapy Alliance. JMS has served as a consultant to Biogen Idec, Cytokinetics, Trophos, ISIS, Glaxo Smith Kline, and receives research support from the Muscular Dystrophy Association, ALS Association, ALS Therapy Alliance, Cytokinetics, Biogen Idec, Sanofi Aventis, Neuraltus. RC is employed at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. DS, over the last 24 months, has served as a biostatistical consultant to Averion, Inc, Gerson Lehrman Group, Guidepoint Global, Neuronova, Cytokinetics, Glaxo Smith Kline, Merck, Aggennix, Pfizer, Biogen Idec, and Elan. He has received research support from AstraZeneca, Roche, CytRx, and ISIS. MK has no relevant disclosures to report. DF has received research funds from Euroimmune, Allere, Focus, Biokit, BioRad and Diasorin, Chronic Fatigue Initiative. LK has no relevant disclosures to report. WSD has no relevant disclosures to report. FV has no relevant disclosures to report. AP receives revenue related to antibody patent licenses from Athena; owns stock in Johnson & Johnson; directs the Washington University Neuromuscular Clinical Laboratory which performs antibody testing; and receives research support from the National Institutes of Health, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Neuromuscular Research Fund, Insmed, Knopp, Cytokinetics, Biogen Idec, ISIS, Genzyme, GSK, Ultragenyx & Sanofi. JBC has no relevant disclosures to report. JK has no relevant disclosures to report. ES has no relevant disclosures to report. JR has served on scientific advisory boards and/or as a consultant for Hill-ROM Inc, Cytokinetics and Avanir Pharmaceuticals. RP has no relevant disclosures to report. JG receives research support from the Muscular Dystrophy Association and from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. KR has no relevant disclosures to report. JR has research funding from National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, P2ALS, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins. He has acted as a consultant to Biogen Idec, Cytokinetics and Psyadon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. DJG has no relevant disclosures to report. MEC served on DSMB for Synapse and Trophos and was a consultant for TEVA, Millenium, GlaxoSmithKline and Biogen. 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: JMS DS MK DF LK JR JDR DJG MEC. Performed the experiments: JDB JMS LK WSD FV AP JBC JK ES JR RP JG KR. Analyzed the data: JDB JMS RC DS MK DF JR JDR DJG MEC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JMS DS JDR DJG. Wrote the paper: JDB JMS RC DS DF WSD FV AP JBC JK ES JR RP JG KR JDR DJG MEC. Study Supervision: JMS RC DS JDR MEC.