About the Authors

Rui Zhang

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Shemin Lu

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Liesu Meng

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Zixin Min

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Juan Tian

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Robert K. Valenzuela

Affiliation Arizona Health Science Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America

Tingwei Guo

Affiliation Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America

Lifang Tian

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Wenxiang Zhao

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Jie Ma

majie.paper@gmail.com

Affiliation Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, and Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JM. Performed the experiments: RZ LM ZM. Analyzed the data: RKV TG JM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RZ LT WZ. Wrote the paper: SL JM. Recruited, diagnosed and gathered patients: LM JT SL. Contributed to the collection and preparation of DNA samples: ZX WZ.