About the Authors

Janina Mertens

Contributed equally to this work with: Janina Mertens, Mario Fabri

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Mario Fabri

Contributed equally to this work with: Janina Mertens, Mario Fabri

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Alessandra Zingarelli

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Torsten Kubacki

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Sonja Meemboor

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Laura Groneck

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Jens Seeger

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Martina Bessler

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Helena Hafke

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Margarete Odenthal

Affiliation Department of Pathology, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Joan G. Bieler

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Division of Immunopathology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Christoph Kalka

Affiliation Swiss Cardiovascular Center, Division of Vascular Medicine, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, and University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse, Bern, Switzerland

Jonathan P. Schneck

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Division of Immunopathology, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Hamid Kashkar

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Wiltrud M. Kalka-Moll

wkalkamoll@labor-stein.de

Current address: MVZ Dr. Stein + Kollegen, Mönchengladbach, Germany

Affiliation Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene, University of Cologne Medical Center, Köln, Germany

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JM MF AZ JS MO HK WMKM. Performed the experiments: JM AZ TK SM LG MB HH WMKM. Analyzed the data: JM MF AZ TK SM LG MB HH JGB JPS HK WMKM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JPS. Wrote the paper: JM MF MO JGB CK HK WMKM.