About the Authors

S. Di Matteo

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft

Affiliation Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

L. Nevi

Contributed equally to this work with: L. Nevi, D. Costantini

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

D. Costantini

Contributed equally to this work with: L. Nevi, D. Costantini

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

D. Overi

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

G. Carpino

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Division of Health Sciences, University of Rome "Foro Italico", Rome, Italy

S. Safarikia

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

F. Giulitti

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Software

Affiliation Department of Movement, Human and Health Sciences, Division of Health Sciences, University of Rome "Foro Italico", Rome, Italy

C. Napoletano

Roles Methodology

Affiliation Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

E. Manzi

Roles Resources

Affiliation Gastroenterology Unit, Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy

A. M. De Rose

Roles Resources

Affiliation Hepatobiliary Unit, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart School of Medicine, Rome, Italy

F. Melandro

Roles Resources

Affiliation Department of General Surgery and Organ Transplantation, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

M. Bragazzi

Roles Resources

Affiliation Medical-Surgical and Biotechnologies Sciences, Polo Pontino, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

P. B. Berloco

Roles Resources

Affiliation Department of General Surgery and Organ Transplantation, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

F. Giuliante

Roles Resources

Affiliation Hepatobiliary Unit, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart School of Medicine, Rome, Italy

G. Grazi

Roles Resources

Affiliation Gastroenterology Unit, Regina Elena National Cancer Institute, Rome, Italy

A. Giorgi

Roles Visualization

Affiliation Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

V. Cardinale

Roles Resources

Affiliation Medical-Surgical and Biotechnologies Sciences, Polo Pontino, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

L. Adorini

Roles Supervision, Visualization

Affiliation Intercept Pharmaceuticals, New York, New York, United States of America

E. Gaudio

Roles Funding acquisition

Affiliation Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine and Orthopedics Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

D. Alvaro

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

domenico.alvaro@uniroma1.it

Affiliation Department of Translational and Precision Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Competing Interests

D. Alvaro received a dedicated grant from InterceptPharma (New York, Usa) for this project and is also a temporary consultant. L.A. is an employer of InterceptPharma (New York, USA). This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.