About the Authors

Kerstin Höhne

Affiliations Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Pneumology, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany, Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Stephan J. Schließmann

Affiliation Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Pneumology, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany

Andreas Kirschbaum

Affiliation Division of Surgery, Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany

Till Plönes

Affiliation Division of Surgery, Department of Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany

Joachim Müller-Quernheim

Affiliation Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Pneumology, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany

Hermann Tenor

Affiliation Nycomed GmbH Global Discovery, Nycomed GmbH, Konstanz, Germany

Gernot Zissel

gernot.zissel@uniklinik-freiburg.de

Affiliation Division of Internal Medicine, Department of Pneumology, University Medical Centre, Freiburg, Germany

Competing Interests

This study was supported by a research grant from Nycomed GmbH, Konstanz, Germany. HT is an employee of Nycomed GmbH. GZ is a PLoS ONE Editorial Board member. Roflumilast is the effective component of “Daxas” which is sold by Nycomed for COPD treatment to minimize exacerbations. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: KH JMQ HT GZ. Performed the experiments: KH HT. Analyzed the data: KH SJS GZ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: KH SJS AK TP. Wrote the paper: KH SJS GZ.