About the Authors

Stefan Röpcke

Contributed equally to this work with: Stefan Röpcke, Olaf Holz

Affiliation Department of Biomarker Development, Nycomed GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Olaf Holz

Contributed equally to this work with: Stefan Röpcke, Olaf Holz

olaf.holz@item.fraunhofer.de

Affiliations Department of Clinical Airway Research, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Hannover, Germany, Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research, Hannover, Germany

Gereon Lauer

Affiliation Department of Biomarker Development, Nycomed GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Meike Müller

Affiliation Department of Clinical Airway Research, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Hannover, Germany

Susanne Rittinghausen

Affiliation Department of Toxicology and Environmental Hygiene, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Hannover, Germany

Peter Ernst

Affiliation GeneData AG, Basel, Switzerland

Gezim Lahu

Affiliation Department of Biomarker Development, Nycomed GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Martin Elmlinger

Affiliation Department of Biomarker Development, Nycomed GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Norbert Krug

Affiliations Department of Clinical Airway Research, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Hannover, Germany, Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research, Hannover, Germany

Jens M. Hohlfeld

Affiliations Department of Clinical Airway Research, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine (ITEM), Hannover, Germany, Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research, Hannover, Germany

Competing Interests

The study was performed at Fraunhofer ITEM in Hannover. Fraunhofer ITEM has received a grant from Nycomed GmbH for performing the study. The samples obtained from the subjects in this study were partly analysed at Fraunhofer ITEM, partly by Nycomed GmbH. The data analysis was performed by Dr P Ernst, Genedata AG, Dr S Roepcke, Dr G Lauer from Nycomed as well as by Dr O Holz and JM Hohlfeld from Fraunhofer ITEM. N.Krug, JM. Hohlfeld and O. Holz are employed at Fraunhofer ITEM and in addition participate in the Group of “Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), which is a member of the German Center for Lung Research. All authors of this manuscript declare not to have a competing interest with respect to the results of this study. Neither the cooperation and involvement in performing this study by Fraunhofer ITEM, Nycomed GmbH and Genedata AG, nor the participation in the German Center of Lung Research alters the adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Nycomed, Genedata and the Fraunhofer ITEM (this includes those authors of Fraunhofer ITEM) who additionally participate in the German center of lung research) are fully aware of and agree to the publishing policies of PlOS ONE.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JMH NK G. Lauer S. Roepcke MM ME. Performed the experiments: MM S. Rittinghausen NK JMH. Analyzed the data: OH S. Roepcke MM S. Rittinghausen PE G. Lauer. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PE. Wrote the paper: OH S. Roepcke G. Lauer JMH G. Lahu.