About the Authors

Naoshi Nishida

naoshi@med.kindai.ac.jp

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

Masatoshi Kudo

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Takafumi Nishimura

Affiliation Outpatient Oncology Unit, Kyoto University Hospital, Kyoto, Japan

Tadaaki Arizumi

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Masahiro Takita

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Satoshi Kitai

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Norihisa Yada

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Satoru Hagiwara

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Tatsuo Inoue

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Yasunori Minami

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Kazuomi Ueshima

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Toshiharu Sakurai

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Kinki University Faculty of Medicine, Osaka-sayama, Japan

Naosuke Yokomichi

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery and Surgical Oncology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan

Takeshi Nagasaka

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterological Surgery and Surgical Oncology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan

Ajay Goel

Affiliation Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine and Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center and Baylor Research Institute, Baylor University Medical Centre, Dallas, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors declare that co-author Dr. Ajay Goel is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. 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: NN AG. Performed the experiments: NN T. Nishimura. Analyzed the data: NN T. Nishimura MK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: NN T. Nishimura N. Yokomichi T. Nagasaka TA MT SK N. Yada SH TI YM KU TS. Wrote the paper: NN AG. Acquisition of data: NN T. Nishimura N. Yokomichi T. Nagasaka TA MT SK N. Yada SH TI YM KU TS. Obtain and support materials: NN N. Yokomichi T. Nishimura.