About the Authors

Giorgia Benegiamo

Contributed equally to this work with: Giorgia Benegiamo, Gianluigi Mazzoccoli

Current address: University of Zurich, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology – Chronobiology and Sleep Research Unit

Affiliation Gastroenterology Unit, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, Hospital San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), San Giovanni, Italy

Gianluigi Mazzoccoli

Contributed equally to this work with: Giorgia Benegiamo, Gianluigi Mazzoccoli

Affiliation Department of Medical Sciences, Division of Internal Medicine IRCCS Scientific Institute and Regional General Hospital “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), Italy

Francesco Cappello

Affiliations Euro-Mediterranean Institute of Science and Technology (IEMEST), Palermo, Italy, Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Section of Human Anatomy, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

Francesca Rappa

Affiliation Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Section of Human Anatomy, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

Nunzia Scibetta

Affiliation Unit of Pathology, Civic Hospital, Palermo, Italy

Jude Oben

Affiliation University College London (UCL)-Institute of Liver and Digestive Health, Division of Medicine, Royal Free Campus, London, United Kingdom

Azzura Greco

Affiliation Institute of Hepatology, Foundation for Liver Research, London, United Kingdom

Roger Williams

Affiliation Institute of Hepatology, Foundation for Liver Research, London, United Kingdom

Angelo Andriulli

Affiliation Gastroenterology Unit, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, Hospital San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), San Giovanni, Italy

Manlio Vinciguerra

pazienza_valerio@yahoo.it (VP); m.vinciguerra@ucl.ac.uk (MV)

Affiliations Euro-Mediterranean Institute of Science and Technology (IEMEST), Palermo, Italy, University College London (UCL)-Institute of Liver and Digestive Health, Division of Medicine, Royal Free Campus, London, United Kingdom

Valerio Pazienza

pazienza_valerio@yahoo.it (VP); m.vinciguerra@ucl.ac.uk (MV)

Affiliation Gastroenterology Unit, IRCCS “Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza”, Hospital San Giovanni Rotondo (FG), San Giovanni, Italy

Competing Interests

The co-last and co-corresponding author Dr. Manlio Vinciguerra, is Academic Editor of PLOS ONE and this does not alter the adherence to the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors of the journal.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GM FC MV VP. Performed the experiments: GB FR NS AG. Analyzed the data: GM FC JO RW AA MV VP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: GM FC NS AA MV VP. Wrote the paper: GM MV VP.