About the Authors

Jörg Trojan

trojan@em.uni-frankfurt.de

Affiliation University Hospital, Frankfurt, Germany

Laurent Mineur

Affiliation Institute Sainte Catherine, Avignon, France

Jiří Tomášek

Affiliation Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic

Etienne Rouleau

Affiliation Curie Institute, Paris, France

Pavel Fabian

Affiliation Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Brno, Czech Republic

Giovanna de Maglio

Affiliation University and General Hospital, Udine, Italy

Pilar García-Alfonso

Affiliation Gregorio Marañón Hospital, Madrid, Spain

Giuseppe Aprile

Affiliation University and General Hospital, Udine, Italy

Aliki Taylor

Affiliation Amgen Ltd, Uxbridge, UK

George Kafatos

Affiliation Amgen Ltd, Uxbridge, UK

Gerald Downey

Affiliation Amgen Ltd, Uxbridge, UK

Jan-Henrik Terwey

Affiliation Amgen (Europe) GmbH, Zug Switzerland

J. Han van Krieken

Affiliation Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Competing Interests

JTr has acted in an advisory role and in speakers’ bureaus for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Bayer and Sanofi. LM has acted in an advisory role and speaker's bureau for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, Sanofi, F. Hoffman-La Roche, Baxter and Fresenius. JTo has acted in an advisory role and in speakers’ bureaus for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Bayer. ER has acted in an advisory role for AstraZeneca and Glaxo Wellcome, received a grant as a speaker for AstraZeneca, and has received research funding from F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Amgen Ltd. PF has participated in advisory boards for Amgen and Pfizer and has received honoraria as a speaker for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, Astra Zeneca, F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Pfizer. GdM has no relevant disclosures. PG-A has acted in an advisory role and in speakers’ bureaus for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Bayer and Sanofi, and has also received research funding from F. Hoffmann-La Roche and Bayer. GA has acted as a speaker for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Sanofi, and Lilly. AT is a compensated employee of Amgen Ltd. as an Observational Research Medical Director and a stockholder in Amgen Ltd. GK is a compensated employee of Amgen Ltd. as an Observational Research Senior Manager and a stockholder in Amgen Ltd. GD is a compensated employee of Amgen Ltd. as a Biostatistics Senior Manager and a stockholder in Amgen Ltd. J-HT is a compensated employee of Amgen Ltd. as the Medical Director of Switzerland and a stockholder in Amgen Ltd. JHvK has participated in advisory boards for Amgen Ltd., Merck Serono, GlaxoSmithKline, and Sakura, and has received honoraria and research grants from these companies. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GD AT. Performed the experiments: J. Trojan LM J. Tomášek PGA GA. Analyzed the data: JHVK GK GD JHT AT. Wrote the paper: J. Trojan LM J. Tomášek ER PF GDM PGA GA JHVK AT GK GD JHT.