About the Authors

Elisabetta Balestro

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Fiorella Calabrese

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Graziella Turato

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Francesca Lunardi

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Erica Bazzan

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Giuseppe Marulli

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Davide Biondini

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Emanuela Rossi

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Alessandro Sanduzzi

Affiliation Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Napoli, Italy

Federico Rea

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Chiara Rigobello

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Dario Gregori

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Simonetta Baraldo

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Paolo Spagnolo

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Manuel G. Cosio

Contributed equally to this work with: Manuel G. Cosio, Marina Saetta

Affiliations Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy, Respiratory Division Meakins-Christie Laboratories, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

Marina Saetta

Contributed equally to this work with: Manuel G. Cosio, Marina Saetta

marina.saetta@unipd.it

Affiliation Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Competing Interests

MS reported a Grant by Takeda LtD to the Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, outside the submitted work. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: EB FC GT FR SB MGC MS. Performed the experiments: FL EB GM DB ER AS CR. Analyzed the data: FL EB GM DB ER AS CR. Wrote the paper: EB FC GT FR SB PS MGC MS. Did the statistical analysis: DG GT.