About the Authors

Rosa Di Paola

r.dipaola@operapadrepio.it (RDP); v.trischitta@operapadrepio.it (VT); lfritti@unict.it (LF)

Affiliation Research Unit of Diabetes and Endocrine Diseases, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Nunzia Caporarello

Affiliation Unit of Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania Medical School, Garibaldi Hospital, Catania, Italy

Antonella Marucci

Affiliation Research Unit of Diabetes and Endocrine Diseases, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Claudia Dimatteo

Affiliation Research Unit of Diabetes and Endocrine Diseases, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Claudia Iadicicco

Affiliation Dipartimento di Biologia e Patologia Cellulare e Molecolare and Istituto di Endocrinologia ed Oncologia Sperimentale del CNR, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

Silvia Del Guerra

Affiliation Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Sabrina Prudente

Affiliation IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, Mendel Laboratory”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy

Dora Sudano

Affiliation Unit of Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania Medical School, Garibaldi Hospital, Catania, Italy

Claudia Miele

Affiliation Dipartimento di Biologia e Patologia Cellulare e Molecolare and Istituto di Endocrinologia ed Oncologia Sperimentale del CNR, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

Cristina Parrino

Affiliation Unit of Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania Medical School, Garibaldi Hospital, Catania, Italy

Salvatore Piro

Affiliation Unit of Internal Medicine, Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania Medical School, Garibaldi Hospital, Catania, Italy

Francesco Beguinot

Affiliation Dipartimento di Biologia e Patologia Cellulare e Molecolare and Istituto di Endocrinologia ed Oncologia Sperimentale del CNR, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

Piero Marchetti

Affiliation Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

Vincenzo Trischitta

Contributed equally to this work with: Vincenzo Trischitta, Lucia Frittitta

r.dipaola@operapadrepio.it (RDP); v.trischitta@operapadrepio.it (VT); lfritti@unict.it (LF)

Affiliations Research Unit of Diabetes and Endocrine Diseases, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, Mendel Laboratory”, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, Department of Experimental Medicine, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Lucia Frittitta

Contributed equally to this work with: Vincenzo Trischitta, Lucia Frittitta

r.dipaola@operapadrepio.it (RDP); v.trischitta@operapadrepio.it (VT); lfritti@unict.it (LF)

Affiliation Unit of Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Molecular Biomedicine, University of Catania Medical School, Garibaldi Hospital, Catania, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RDP NC AM CD CI SDG DS CP S. Piro S. Prudente CM FB PM VT LF. Performed the experiments: NC AM CD CI SDG DS CP S. Piro S. Prudente. Analyzed the data: RDP CM PM VT LF. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RDP FB PM VT LF. Wrote the paper: RDP VT.