About the Authors

Xi Zhang

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Edaire Cheng

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Medical Center and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Xiaofang Huo

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Chunhua Yu

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Qiuyang Zhang

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Thai H. Pham

Affiliation Department of Surgery, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

David H. Wang

Affiliations Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America, Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Stuart J. Spechler

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Rhonda F. Souza

rhonda.souza@utsouthwestern.edu

Affiliations Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America, Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: XZ EC SJS RFS. Performed the experiments: XZ EC. Analyzed the data: XZ EC XH CY QZ THP DHW SJS RFS. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: XH CY QZ THP DHW. Wrote the paper: XZ EC XH CY QZ THP DHW SJS RFS.