About the Authors

Guillermo Pousada

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology, Faculty of Biology, University of Vigo, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Vigo (IBIV), Vigo, Spain

Adolfo Baloira

Affiliation Respiratory Division, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Pontevedra, Pontevedra, Spain

Carlos Vilariño

Affiliation Respiratory Division, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Vigo, Vigo, Spain

Jose Manuel Cifrian

Affiliation Respiratory Division, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, Santander, Spain

Diana Valverde

dianaval@uvigo.es

Affiliation Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Immunology, Faculty of Biology, University of Vigo, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Vigo (IBIV), Vigo, Spain

Competing Interests

The authors confirm that they received funding from a commercial source: “Actelion Pharmaceuticals”. But, this does not alter their adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GP AB DV. Performed the experiments: GP DV. Analyzed the data: GP AB CV DV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: GP AB CV JMC DV. Wrote the paper: GP AB DV. Clinical data: AB CV JMC.