About the Authors

Yoshihito Kogure

yo-kogure@umin.ac.jp

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Hideo Saka

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Masahide Oki

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Toshiki I. Saito

Affiliation Clinical Research Center, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Shimaa Nour Moursi Ahmed

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Chiyoe Kitagawa

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan

Kazuyoshi Imaizumi

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and have the following competing interests. Hideo Saka is receiving grants from Daiichi-Sankyo Co., Ono Pham. Co., AstraZeneca Co., Ili Lilly Co. and Bayer Co. Kazuyoshi Imaizumi is receiving grants from AstraZeneca Co. and Ili Lilly Co. There are no conflicts to declare for the remaining authors. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: YK HS. Performed the experiments: YK CK. Analyzed the data: YK MO. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YK TS. Wrote the paper: YK TS SA HS KI.