About the Authors

Po-Lin Chen

Affiliations Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan

Chi-Jung Wu

Affiliations Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan, National Institute of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan

Pei-Jane Tsai

Affiliations Department of Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan, Research Center of Infectious Disease and Signaling, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

Hung-Jen Tang

Affiliations Department of Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, Department of Health and Nutrition, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan

Yin-Ching Chuang

Affiliations Department of Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan, Department of Clinical Pathology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan

Nan-Yao Lee

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

Ching-Chi Lee

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

Chia-Wen Li

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

Ming-Chi Li

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

Chi-Chung Chen

Affiliation Department of Medical Research, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan

Hung-Wen Tsai

Affiliation Department of Pathology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

Chun-Chun Ou

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan

Chang-Shi Chen

cschen@mail.ncku.edu.tw (CSC); winston3415@gmail.com (WCK)

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan

Wen-Chien Ko

cschen@mail.ncku.edu.tw (CSC); winston3415@gmail.com (WCK)

Affiliations Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan, Department of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University College of Medicine, Tainan, Taiwan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PLC CJW. Performed the experiments: CCC. Analyzed the data: PJT HJT NYL CCL CWL MCL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YCC HWT CCO. Wrote the paper: PLC CSC WCK.