About the Authors

Ling Yi

Affiliation Department of Central Laboratory, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University and Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Yanlin Zhao

Affiliation Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Xiaojue Wang

Affiliation Department of Central Laboratory, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University and Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Min Dai

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America

Karl Erik Hellström

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America

Ingegerd Hellström

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America

Hongtao Zhang

zhtbeijing@163.com

Affiliation Department of Central Laboratory, Beijing Chest Hospital, Capital Medical University and Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute, Beijing, People's Republic of China

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HZ YZ KH IH. Performed the experiments: LY YZ XW HZ. Analyzed the data: LY YZ HZ KH IH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LY XW. Wrote the paper: HZ KH IH MD LY. Discussed the results and implications and commented on the manuscript at all stages: LY YZ XW MD KH IH HZ.