About the Authors

Josquin Nys

Contributed equally to this work with: Josquin Nys, Cristian R. Smulski

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

Cristian R. Smulski

Contributed equally to this work with: Josquin Nys, Cristian R. Smulski

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

Aubry Tardivel

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

Laure Willen

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

Christine Kowalczyk

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

Olivier Donzé

Affiliation Adipogen SA, Epalinges, Switzerland

Bertrand Huard

Affiliations Department of Patho-Immunology, Medical University Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, Division of Hematology, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland

Henry Hess

Affiliation Merck-Serono, Darmstadt, Germany

Pascal Schneider

pascal.schneider@unil.ch

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, University of Lausanne, Epalinges, Switzerland

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests. This research was financed in part by a research agreement bewteen Merck-Serono and the University of Lausanne. Henry Hess, who is employed by Merck-Serono provided the essential reagent. Olivier Donzé is employed by Adipogen SA. Atacicept, the drug under investigation in this paper, is being developed by Merck-Serono. 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: JN PS. Performed the experiments: JN CRS LW CK AT PS. Analyzed the data: JN CRS PS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: OD BH HH. Wrote the paper: HH PS.