Aleem, Tooba
Rashid, Maliha
Ahmad, Naeem https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6523-492X
Asif, Muhammad Farrukh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9921-4030
Tariq, Muhammad https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5334-403X
Malik, Naveed Altaf https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7392-9449
Poulter, James A. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2048-5693
Funding for this research was provided by:
RCUK | MRC | Medical Research Foundation (MR/T02044X/1)
Higher Education Commission, Pakistan (15309)
Article History
Received: 7 February 2025
Revised: 6 June 2025
Accepted: 14 July 2025
First Online: 29 July 2025
Competing interests
: The authors declare no competing interests.
: This study was conducted following approval from the Institutional Review Board and Ethical Committee at the National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Faisalabad, Pakistan, and by the Yorkshire and Humber—Leeds East Research Ethics Committee (REC ref. 18/YH/0070).