About the Authors

Vasiliki Koliaraki

Affiliation Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunobiotechnology, Department of Biochemistry, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece

Martha Marinou

Affiliation Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunobiotechnology, Department of Biochemistry, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece

Theodoros P. Vassilakopoulos

Affiliation 1st Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Hematology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

Eustathios Vavourakis

Affiliation Hematology Laboratory, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece

Emmanuel Tsochatzis

Affiliation 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Athens University Medical School, Hippokration General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece

Gerassimos A. Pangalis

Affiliation 1st Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Hematology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

George Papatheodoridis

Affiliation 2nd Department of Internal Medicine, Athens University Medical School, Hippokration General Hospital of Athens, Athens, Greece

Alexandra Stamoulakatou

Affiliation Hematology Laboratory, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece

Dorine W. Swinkels

Affiliation Department of Clinical Chemistry, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands

George Papanikolaou

Affiliation 1st Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Hematology, Athens University Medical School, Athens, Greece

Avgi Mamalaki

amamalaki@pasteur.gr

Affiliation Laboratory of Molecular Biology and Immunobiotechnology, Department of Biochemistry, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece

Competing Interests

AM, VK and MM are named as inventors and co-applicants with the Hellenic Pasteur Institute on a patent application GPO 20070100553/24.8.2007

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: VK MM AM. Performed the experiments: VK MM DWS. Analyzed the data: VK AM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TPV ET GP AS GP AM. Wrote the paper: VK AM. Enrolled patients: TPV EV ET GAP GP AS. Evaluated clinical data: TPV EV ET GAP GP AS GP. Approved the manuscript: TPV EV ET GAP GP AS. Critically revised the manuscript: DWS GP. Contributed to case selection, patients enrollment: GP.