About the Authors

Jørgen Gravning

Affiliations Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Stein Ørn

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway

Ole Jørgen Kaasbøll

Affiliations Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Vladimir N. Martinov

Affiliations Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Cord Manhenke

Affiliation Division of Cardiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway

Kenneth Dickstein

Affiliations Division of Cardiology, Stavanger University Hospital, Stavanger, Norway, Institute of Internal Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Thor Edvardsen

Affiliations Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway

Håvard Attramadal

havard.attramadal@medisin.uio.no

Affiliations Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway

Mohammed Shakil Ahmed

Affiliations Institute for Surgical Research, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Center for Heart Failure Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Competing Interests

The authors Jørgen Gravning, Vladimir N. Martinov, M. Shakil Ahmed, and Håvard Attramadal are inventors in a patent application related to the potential application of CCN2/CTGF as a cardioprotectant (PCT/GB2009/002218;WO/2010/032007). This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JG SØ OJK VNM KD TE HA MSA. Performed the experiments: JG SØ OJK VNM CM MSA. Analyzed the data: JG SØ OJK VNM CM TE HA MSA. Wrote the paper: JG HA MSA. JG SØ OJK VNM CM KD TE HA MSA.