About the Authors

Julia A. Sharp

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Pamela S. Hair

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Haree K. Pallera

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Parvathi S. Kumar

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Clifford T. Mauriello

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Julius O. Nyalwidhe

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America, The Leroy T. Canoles Jr. Cancer Research Center, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Cody A. Phelps

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Dalnam Park

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Nicole M. Thielens

Affiliations Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IBS, F-38044, Grenoble, France, CNRS, IBS, F-38044, Grenoble, France, CEA, IBS, F-38044, Grenoble, France

Stephen M. Pascal

Affiliation Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Waldon Chen

Affiliation Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Diane M. Duffy

Affiliation Department of Physiological Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Frank A. Lattanzio

Affiliation Department of Physiological Sciences, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Kenji M. Cunnion

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America, Children’s Specialty Group, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Neel K. Krishna

krishnnk@evms.edu

Affiliations Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America, Department of Pediatrics, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America

Competing Interests

Drs. Krishna and Cunnion hold two US patents on PIC1 and its derivatives (8,241,843 and 8,906,845). Dr. Cunnion is a partner in a clinical practice group, Children’s Specialty Group (CSG). This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JAS PSH HKP PSK CTM JON CAP DP SMP FAL KMC NKK. Performed the experiments: JAS PSH HKP PSK CTM JON CAP DP SMP WC DMD FAL KMC NKK. Analyzed the data: JAS PSH HKP PSK CTM JON CAP DP SMP WC FAL KMC NKK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JON NMT SMP DMD FAL KMC NKK. Wrote the paper: JAS PSH HKP PSK JON NMT SMP DMD FAL KMC NKK.