About the Authors

Julia Dotterweich

Contributed equally to this work with: Julia Dotterweich, Robert J. Tower

Affiliation Orthopedic Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Orthopedic Department, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Robert J. Tower

Contributed equally to this work with: Julia Dotterweich, Robert J. Tower

Current address: Laboratory of Skeletal Cell Biology and Physiology (SCEBP), Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Affiliation Section Biomedical Imaging, MOIN CC, Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Andreas Brandl

Affiliation Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research Laboratory, Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Marc Müller

Affiliation Section Biomedical Imaging, MOIN CC, Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Lorenz C. Hofbauer

Affiliation Department of Medicine III, Technische Universität Dresden Medical Center, Dresden, Germany

Andreas Beilhack

Affiliation Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research Laboratory, Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Regina Ebert

Affiliation Orthopedic Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Orthopedic Department, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Claus C. Glüer

Affiliation Section Biomedical Imaging, MOIN CC, Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Sanjay Tiwari

Affiliation Section Biomedical Imaging, MOIN CC, Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Campus Kiel, Kiel, Germany

Norbert Schütze

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Orthopedic Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Orthopedic Department, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Franz Jakob

f-jakob.klh@uni-wuerzburg.de

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Orthopedic Center for Musculoskeletal Research, Orthopedic Department, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Franz Jakob receives honoraria for lectures and consulting from Novartis, Procter & Gamble, Servier, Lilly, MSD, and Roche. Lorenz Hofbauer receives honoraria for lectures and consulting from Amgen, Novartis, and MSD. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JD RJT MM. Performed the experiments: JD RJT A. Brandl MM. Analyzed the data: JD RJT A. Brandl MM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: A. Beilhack CCG NS RE FJ ST. Wrote the paper: JD RJT. Data interpretation: JD RJT LCH A. Beilhack RE NS FJ CCG ST. Revised manuscript content: A. Beilhack LCH RE CCG ST NS FJ. Approved final version of manuscript: JD RJT A. Brandl A. Beilhack RE CCG ST NS FJ.