About the Authors

Sandra Page

Affiliations Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America, Liver Diseases Branch of National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America

Aybike Birerdinc

Affiliations Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America

Michael Estep

Affiliations Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America, Center for Liver Diseases and Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America

Maria Stepanova

Affiliations Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America

Arian Afendy

Affiliations Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America, Center for Liver Diseases and Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America

Emanuel Petricoin

Affiliations Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America

Zobair Younossi

Affiliations Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America, Center for Liver Diseases and Department of Medicine, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America

Vikas Chandhoke

Affiliation Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America

Ancha Baranova

abaranov@gmu.edu

Affiliations Center for the Study of Chronic Metabolic Diseases, School of Systems Biology, College of Science, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States of America, Betty and Guy Beatty Liver and Obesity Program, Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia, United States of America, The Research Centre of Medical Genetics RAMS, Moscow, Russia

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Collected and clinically assessed patient samples: AA ZY. Conceived and designed the experiments: A. Baranova A. Birerdinc SP EP. Performed the experiments: SP ME. Analyzed the data: MS SP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AA EP ZY VC. Wrote the paper: SP A. Baranova A. Birerdinc VC.