About the Authors

Preston E. Bratcher

bratcher@uab.edu

Affiliations Department of Medicine and Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America, Program in Protease and Matrix Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America

Amit Gaggar

Affiliations Department of Medicine and Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America, Gregory Fleming James Cystic Fibrosis Research Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America, University of Alabama at Birmingham, UAB Lung Health Center, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America, Medicine Service, United States Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America, Program in Protease and Matrix Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: PEB. Performed the experiments: PEB. Analyzed the data: PEB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: PEB AG. Wrote the paper: PEB AG.