About the Authors

Bouchra Kitab

Affiliations Laboratoire des Hépatites Virales, Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca, Morocco, Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Lipoprotéines et l′Athérosclérose, Unité Associée au CNRST -URAC 34- Université Hassan II, Faculté des Sciences Ben M′sik, Casablanca, Morocco

Abdellah Essaid El Feydi

Affiliation Service Médecine C, CHU Ibn Sina, Rabat, Morocco

Rajaa Afifi

Affiliation Service Médecine C, CHU Ibn Sina, Rabat, Morocco

Christian Trepo

Affiliation INSERM, Unité 1052, Lyon, France

Mustapha Benazzouz

Affiliation Service Médecine C, CHU Ibn Sina, Rabat, Morocco

Wafaa Essamri

Affiliation Service Médecine C, CHU Ibn Sina, Rabat, Morocco

Fabien Zoulim

Affiliation INSERM, Unité 1052, Lyon, France

Isabelle Chemin

Affiliation INSERM, Unité 1052, Lyon, France

Hanane Salih Alj

Affiliation Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Lipoprotéines et l′Athérosclérose, Unité Associée au CNRST -URAC 34- Université Hassan II, Faculté des Sciences Ben M′sik, Casablanca, Morocco

Sayeh Ezzikouri

Affiliation Laboratoire des Hépatites Virales, Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca, Morocco

Soumaya Benjelloun

soumaya.benjelloun@pasteur.ma

Affiliation Laboratoire des Hépatites Virales, Institut Pasteur du Maroc, Casablanca, Morocco

Competing Interests

The authors have the following competing interest. The study was supported by Novartis Pharma Morocco and Pasteur Institute of Morocco; 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: SB BK SE. Performed the experiments: BK. Analyzed the data: BK SB SE CT IC FZ HSA. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SB SE. Wrote the paper: BK SB SE. Enrollment of patients, sample collection and clinical database: SB BK AEEF RA MB WE.