About the Authors

Yin-Ku Lin

Affiliations School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Keelung, Keelung, Taiwan

Sien-Hung Yang

Affiliations School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Chin-Chuan Chen

Affiliation Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Graduate Institute of Natural Products, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Hsiao-Ching Kao

Affiliation Pharmaceutics Laboratory, Graduate Institute of Natural Products, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Jia-You Fang

fajy@mail.cgu.edu.tw

Affiliations Pharmaceutics Laboratory, Graduate Institute of Natural Products, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Chinese Herbal Medicine Research Team, Healthy Aging Research Center, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Research Center for Industry of Human Ecology, Chang Gung University of Science and Technology, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Competing Interests

3M Pharmaceuticals (Leicestershire, UK) donated imiquimod cream (Aldara®) for the purpose of this study. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. 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: JYF YKL SHY. Performed the experiments: YKL CCC HCK. Analyzed the data: YKL HCK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YKL. Wrote the paper: YKL SHY JYF.