About the Authors

Sherry L. Kurtz

Affiliation Laboratory of Mycobacterial Diseases and Cellular Immunology, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic and Allergenic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Alicia Y. Chou

Current address: Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration, Washington DC, United States of America

Affiliation Laboratory of Mycobacterial Diseases and Cellular Immunology, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic and Allergenic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Klara Kubelkova

Current address: University of Defence, Faculty of Military Health Sciences, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

Affiliation Laboratory of Mycobacterial Diseases and Cellular Immunology, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic and Allergenic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Daniel J. Cua

Affiliation Pathway Biology, Merck Research Laboratories, Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Karen L. Elkins

Karen.elkins@fda.hhs.gov

Affiliation Laboratory of Mycobacterial Diseases and Cellular Immunology, Division of Bacterial, Parasitic and Allergenic Products, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland, United States of America

Competing Interests

DJC is employed by Merck and Co. Merck holds patents for using anti-IL-23 for treatment of autoimmune disorders and is developing anti-IL-23 for treatment of psoriasis. These updates can be found in the revised manuscript on Page 20, Lines 388–390. The authors confirm that this does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. There are no restrictions on sharing data and/or materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SLK AYC KK DJC KLE. Performed the experiments: SLK AYC KK. Analyzed the data: SLK AYC KK KLE. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DJC. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: SLK AYC KK DJC KLE.