About the Authors

Michele Ciro Totaro

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Barbara Tolusso

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Valerio Napolioni

Affiliation Laboratory of Human Genetics, School of Biosciences and Biotechnologies, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

Francesca Faustini

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Silvia Canestri

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Alice Mannocci

Affiliation Unit of Hygiene, Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Elisa Gremese

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Silvia Laura Bosello

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Stefano Alivernini

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Gianfranco Ferraccioli

gf.ferraccioli@rm.unicatt.it

Affiliation Division of Rheumatology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MCT BT GF. Performed the experiments: MCT BT VN SC AM. Analyzed the data: MCT BT VN SC AM GF. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: VN AM GF. Wrote the paper: MCT BT VN AM GF. Clinical data collection: FF EG SLB SA.