About the Authors

Hua Huang

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Pirkko Koelle

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Markus Fendler

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Angelika Schroettle

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Michael Czihal

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Ulrich Hoffmann

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Peter Jan Kuhlencordt

peter.kuhlencordt@med.uni-muenchen.de

Affiliation Division of Vascular Medicine, Medical Clinic and Policlinic IV, University Hospital Munich, Munich, Germany

Competing Interests

This work was supported by a grant from Merck, Sharp & Dhome and Essex Pharma GmbH to P.K. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PJK. Performed the experiments: HH PK MF PJK. Analyzed the data: HH PK AS MC UH PJK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PJK. Wrote the paper: HH PK PJK.