About the Authors

Ragini Vittal

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Elizabeth A. Mickler

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Amanda J. Fisher

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Chen Zhang

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Katia Rothhaar

Affiliation ImmuneWorks Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Hongmei Gu

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Krista M. Brown

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Amir Emtiazdjoo

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Jeremy M. Lott

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Sarah B. Frye

Affiliation ImmuneWorks Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Gerald N. Smith

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

George E. Sandusky

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Oscar W. Cummings

Affiliation Department of Pathology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

David S. Wilkes

dwilkes@iupui.edu

Affiliation Center for Immunobiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America

Competing Interests

David S. Wilkes is a co-founder of ImmuneWorks, Inc., a biotechnology company involved in developing therapeutics for various forms of lung diseases. Katia Rothhaar is the Director of Research Operations while Sarah Frye is a Research Technician working at ImmuneWorks, Inc. All other authors declare no competing interests. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RV DSW. Analyzed the data: RV KR DSW. Wrote the paper: RV DSW. Pepsin digestion of clinical tissues, hydroxyproline analyses: EAM. Bleomycin instillations: AF. Real-time PCR on patient and animal tissues: CZ HG. Col(V) antibody analyses on patient and murine plasma: KR KMB SF. Patient demographic analyses: AE. Cytokine bead assay: JML. Received IPF tissues from LTRC: RV. Provided consultation on col(V) pepsin digestion: GNS. Board-certified pathologists: OWC GES. Patient demographic analyses: AE. Cytokine bead assay: JML.