About the Authors

Monika Tschochner

M.Tschochner@iiid.com.au

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Shay Leary

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Don Cooper

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Kaija Strautins

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Abha Chopra

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Hayley Clark

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Linda Choo

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

David Dunn

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Ian James

Affiliation Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

William M. Carroll

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders, Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia

Allan G. Kermode

Affiliations Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Department of Neurology, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders, Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia

David Nolan

Affiliations Institute for Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Department of Clinical Immunology, Royal Perth Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Competing Interests

The authors of this manuscript have read the journal's policy and have the following competing interests: AGK received Speaker honoraria and scientific advisory board fees from Bayer, Biogen-Idec, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, Innate Immunotherapeutics, Genzyme and BioCSL. WMC received speaker honoraria and membership of scientific advisory boards from Bayer Schering, Novartis, Merck Serono, Sanofi, and Biogen Idec. All other authors have nothing to disclose. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MT DN. Performed the experiments: MT AC HC LC. Analyzed the data: MT SL DC DD IJ DN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MT SL DC WMC AGK. Wrote the paper: MT KS AC IJ DN. Patient assessment, clinical management and recruitment: WMC AGK. Graphics design: SL. Database management: MT KS DD.