About the Authors

Tetsuhiro Chiba

Contributed equally to this work with: Tetsuhiro Chiba, Eiichiro Suzuki

techiba@faculty.chiba-u.jp

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Eiichiro Suzuki

Contributed equally to this work with: Tetsuhiro Chiba, Eiichiro Suzuki

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Kaori Yuki

Affiliations Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Yoh Zen

Affiliation Institute of Liver Studies, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, United Kingdom

Motohiko Oshima

Affiliation Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Satoru Miyagi

Affiliation Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Atsunori Saraya

Affiliation Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Shuhei Koide

Affiliation Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Tenyu Motoyama

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Sadahisa Ogasawara

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Yoshihiko Ooka

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Akinobu Tawada

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Tetsuya Nakatsura

Affiliation Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Japan

Takehiro Hayashi

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

Taro Yamashita

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

Syuichi Kaneko

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan

Masaru Miyazaki

Affiliation Department of General Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Atsushi Iwama

Affiliation Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Osamu Yokosuka

Affiliation Department of Gastroenterology and Nephrology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan

Competing Interests

Prof. Osamu Yokosuka received grant support from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma. Dr. Taro Yamashita, an academic editor of PLOS ONE, is listed as a co-author of the manuscript. 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: TC ES KY YZ. Performed the experiments: TC ES KY YZ MO SM AS S. Koide. Analyzed the data: TC ES KY YZ TM SO YO AT. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TN TH TY S. Kaneko MM AI OY. Wrote the paper: TC AI.