About the Authors

Li Zhang

Contributed equally to this work with: Li Zhang, Pengfei Wei, Xudong Shen

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Pengfei Wei

Contributed equally to this work with: Li Zhang, Pengfei Wei, Xudong Shen

Affiliation School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China

Xudong Shen

Contributed equally to this work with: Li Zhang, Pengfei Wei, Xudong Shen

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Yuanwei Zhang

Affiliation School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China

Bo Xu

Affiliation Center for Reproductive Medicine, Anhui Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Jun Zhou

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Song Fan

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Zongyao Hao

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Haoqiang Shi

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Xiansheng Zhang

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Rui Kong

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Lingfan Xu

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Jingjing Gao

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Duohong Zou

liang_chaozhao@163.com (CZL); zouduohongyy@126.com (DHZ)

Affiliation Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases Research of Anhui Province, Stomatologic College, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Chaozhao Liang

liang_chaozhao@163.com (CZL); zouduohongyy@126.com (DHZ)

Affiliations Department of Urology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China, Institute of Urology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CZL DHZ LZ. Performed the experiments: LZ PFW XDS. Analyzed the data: DHZ LZ PFW YWZ BX. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CZL XDS JZ XSZ RK LFX JJG. Wrote the paper: LZ CZL DHZ. Revised the manuscript: PFW JZ SF ZYH HQS.