About the Authors

Nele Heulens

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Hannelie Korf

Affiliation Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Carolien Mathyssen

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Stephanie Everaerts

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Elien De Smidt

Affiliation Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Christophe Dooms

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Jonas Yserbyt

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Conny Gysemans

Affiliation Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Ghislaine Gayan-Ramirez

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Chantal Mathieu

Affiliation Laboratory of Clinical and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Wim Janssens

wim.janssens@uzleuven.be

Affiliation Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests. This study was partly funded by AstraZeneca chair. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors. No part of this research has been funded by tobacco industry sources.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: NH WJ. Data curation: NH WJ. Formal analysis: NH HK C. Mathyssen SE. Funding acquisition: HK WJ. Investigation: NH HK ED. Methodology: NH HK C. Mathyssen SE CD JY GGR. Project administration: HK WJ. Resources: WJ. Supervision: CG C. Mathieu GGR WJ. Visualization: NH WJ. Writing - original draft: NH HK C. Mathyssen SE ED. Writing - review & editing: CD JY CG C. Mathieu GGR WJ.