About the Authors

Pietro Ameri

‡ These authors contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Santina Bruzzone

‡ These authors contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Biochemistry and CEBR, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/1, 16132 Genova, Italy

Elena Mannino

Affiliation Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Biochemistry and CEBR, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/1, 16132 Genova, Italy

Giovanna Sociali

Affiliation Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Biochemistry and CEBR, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/1, 16132 Genova, Italy

Gabriella Andraghetti

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Annalisa Salis

Affiliation Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Biochemistry and CEBR, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/1, 16132 Genova, Italy

Monica Laura Ponta

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Lucia Briatore

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Giovanni F. Adami

Affiliation Department of surgical sciences and integrated diagnostic, University of Genova, Largo R. Benzi 8, 16132 Genova, Italy

Antonella Ferraiolo

Affiliation IRCSS San Martino IST, Largo R. Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy

Pier Luigi Venturini

Affiliations IRCSS San Martino IST, Largo R. Benzi 10, 16132 Genova, Italy, Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology, Genetics and Mother and Child Sciences, University of Genova, Largo P. Daneo, 3, 16132 Genova, Italy

Davide Maggi

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Renzo Cordera

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Giovanni Murialdo

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/6, 16132 Genova, Italy

Elena Zocchi

ezocchi@unige.it

Affiliation Department of Experimental Medicine, Section of Biochemistry and CEBR, University of Genova, Viale Benedetto XV/1, 16132 Genova, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PA SB EZ. Performed the experiments: SB EM GS GA AS MP LB. Analyzed the data: PA SB EZ GM GFA DM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: GFA AF PLV RC. Wrote the paper: PA SB EZ.