About the Authors

Annie Pardo

Affiliation Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

Kevin Gibson

Affiliation The Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

José Cisneros

Affiliation Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico

Thomas J Richards

Affiliation The Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Yinke Yang

Affiliation The Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Carina Becerril

Affiliation Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico

Samueal Yousem

Affiliation Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Iliana Herrera

Affiliation Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

Victor Ruiz

Affiliation Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico

Moisés Selman

Affiliation Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Respiratorias, Mexico City, Mexico

Naftali Kaminski

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kaminskin@upmc.edu

Affiliation The Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases, Pulmonary Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

AP, KG, SY, VR, MS, and NK designed the study. KG, JC, TJR, YY, CB, IH, VR, and NK performed experiments. AP, KG, JC, YY, SY, IH, VR, MS, and NK analyzed the data. AP, KG, MS, and NK enrolled patients. AP, KG, MS, and NK contributed to writing the paper.