About the Authors

Enrico Munari

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Alcides Chaux

Affiliations Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Department of Scientific Research, Norte University; Centro para el Desarrollo de la Investigación Científica (CEDIC) Asunción, Asunción, Paraguay

Ajay M. Vaghasia

Affiliation Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Diana Taheri

Affiliations Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Department of Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan Kidney Diseases Research Center, Isfahan, Iran

Sarah Karram

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Stephania M. Bezerra

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Nilda Gonzalez Roibon

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

William G. Nelson

Affiliations Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Srinivasan Yegnasubramanian

Affiliation Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

George J. Netto

michael.c.haffner@gmail.com (MCH); gnetto1@jhmi.edu (GJN)

Affiliations Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Michael C. Haffner

michael.c.haffner@gmail.com (MCH); gnetto1@jhmi.edu (GJN)

Affiliations Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21231, United States of America

Competing Interests

MCH, WGN, SY and the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) have a provisional patent relating to 5hmC detection in tumors (Patent pending, “5-HYDROXYMETHYLCYTOSINE IN HUMAN CANCER”, United States Patent Application number: 13/956,879). This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MCH GJN EM. Performed the experiments: MCH EM AV SK SB NGR. Analyzed the data: MCH AC EM DT SK SY WGN GJN. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AC DT. Wrote the paper: MCH EM SY GJN.