About the Authors

Sachiko Hirai

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Shinji Endo

shinj.endo@md.tsukuba.ac.jp

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Rie Saito

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Mitsuaki Hirose

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Takunori Ueno

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Hideo Suzuki

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Kenji Yamato

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Masato Abei

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Ichinosuke Hyodo

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SH SE IH. Performed the experiments: SH SE RS MH TU. Analyzed the data: SH SE KY IH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HS MA IH. Wrote the paper: SH SE IH.