About the Authors

Masanori Sawada

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Tomotaka Kawayama

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Haruki Imaoka

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Yuki Sakazaki

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Hanako Oda

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Shin-ichi Takenaka

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Yoichiro Kaku

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Koichi Azuma

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Morihiro Tajiri

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Nobutaka Edakuni

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Masaki Okamoto

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Seiya Kato

Affiliation Division of Pathology and Cell Biology, Graduate School and Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

Tomoaki Hoshino

hoshino@med.kurume-u.ac.jp

Affiliation Division of Respirology, Neurology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine 1, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TH. Performed the experiments: MS TK HI YS HO ST YK KA MT NE MO SK TH. Analyzed the data: MS TK HI YS HO ST YK KA MT NE MO SK TH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SK. Wrote the paper: TH.