About the Authors

Naoko Minatani

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Mina Waraya

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Keishi Yamashita

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Mariko Kikuchi

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Hideki Ushiku

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Ken Kojo

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Akira Ema

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Hiroshi Nishimiya

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Yamato Municipal Hospital, Yamato, Kanagawa, Japan

Yoshimasa Kosaka

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Hiroshi Katoh

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Norihiko Sengoku

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Hirokazu Tanino

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

David Sidransky

Affiliation Department of Otolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Masahiko Watanabe

gekaw@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: NM KY DS M. Watanabe. Performed the experiments: NM M. Waraya. Analyzed the data: NM MK HU KK AE. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: HK NS HT HN YK. Wrote the paper: NM M. Waraya KY.