About the Authors

Serena Macrì

Affiliation Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

Elisa Pavesi

Contributed equally to this work with: Elisa Pavesi, Rossella Crescitelli

Affiliation Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

Rossella Crescitelli

Contributed equally to this work with: Elisa Pavesi, Rossella Crescitelli

Affiliation Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

Anna Aspesi

Affiliation Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

Claudia Vizziello

Affiliation Chemical Clinical Analysis laboratory, SCDU, Azienda Universitaria Ospedaliera Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy

Carlotta Botto

Affiliation Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Paola Corti

Affiliation Department of Pediatric Hematology, San Gerardo’s Hospital, Monza, Italy

Paola Quarello

Affiliation Pediatric Onco-Hematology, Regina Margherita Children’s Hospital, Turin, Italy

Patrizia Notari

Affiliation Chemical Clinical Analysis laboratory, SCDU, Azienda Universitaria Ospedaliera Maggiore della Carità, Novara, Italy

Ugo Ramenghi

Affiliation Department of Public Health and Pediatric Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

Steven Robert Ellis

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, United States of America

Irma Dianzani

irma.dianzani@med.uniupo.it

Affiliation Department of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Piedmont, Novara, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: ID PN. Performed the experiments: SM EP RC CV. Analyzed the data: SM EP RC PN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AA CB PQ UR PC. Wrote the paper: SM EP RC SRE ID.