About the Authors

Lei Deng

Affiliations Medical Biotechnology Center, VIB, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium

Lorena Itatí Ibañez

Current address: ICT-Milstein—CONICET, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Affiliations Medical Biotechnology Center, VIB, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium

Veronique Van den Bossche

Current Address: Current address Department of Endocrinology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium Correspondence to: Xavier Saelens, Technologiepark 927 B-9052 Zwijnaarde (Ghent) Belgium

Affiliations Medical Biotechnology Center, VIB, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium

Kenny Roose

Affiliations Medical Biotechnology Center, VIB, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium

Sameh A. Youssef

Affiliation Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Alain de Bruin

Affiliation Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Walter Fiers

Affiliations Medical Biotechnology Center, VIB, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium

Xavier Saelens

Xavier.Saelens@vib-Ugent.be

Affiliations Medical Biotechnology Center, VIB, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium, Department of Biomedical Molecular Biology, Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, Ghent, Belgium

Competing Interests

The authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Walter Fiers is an inventor of patents WO05/055957, WO02/074795 and WO99/07839 which relate to the use of M2e as a vaccine. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: LD LII KR WF XS. Performed the experiments: LD LII VV KR SAY AdB. Analyzed the data: LD LII KR WF XS SAY AdB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KR WF XS. Wrote the paper: LD XS.