About the Authors

Francesca Zorzi

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Ivan Monteleone

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Massimiliano Sarra

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Emma Calabrese

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Irene Marafini

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Micaela Cretella

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Silvia Sedda

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Livia Biancone

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Francesco Pallone

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Giovanni Monteleone

Gi.monteleone@med.uniroma2.it

Affiliation Department of Systems Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors state that this work was supported by “Fondazione Umberto Di Mario Onlus” (Rome, Italy) and Giuliani SpA, Milan, Italy. This does not alter the authors‚ adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: FZ GM. Performed the experiments: FZ I. Monteleone MS I. Marafini. Analyzed the data: FZ I. Monteleone GM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: EC MC SS LB. Wrote the paper: FZ FP GM.