About the Authors

Marjolein A. van Maanen

Affiliation Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Roger L. Papke

Affiliation Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Florida College of Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, United States of America

Frieda A. Koopman

Affiliation Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Jessica Koepke

Affiliations Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Arthrogen BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Lisette Bevaart

Affiliations Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Arthrogen BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Roger Clark

Affiliation Cornerstone Therapeutics, Inc., Cary, North Carolina, United States of America

Diana Lamppu

Affiliation Cornerstone Therapeutics, Inc., Cary, North Carolina, United States of America

Daniel Elbaum

Affiliation DEC Associates, LLC, Newton, Massachusetts, United States of America

Gregory J. LaRosa

Affiliation Cornerstone Therapeutics, Inc., Cary, North Carolina, United States of America

Paul P. Tak

Affiliation Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Margriet J. Vervoordeldonk

m.j.vervoordeldonk@amc.uva.nl

Affiliations Department of Clinical Immunology & Rheumatology, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Arthrogen BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

This study was funded in part by a research award from Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. PPT received research support from SetPoint Medical and Critical Therapeutics. Coauthors Roger Clark, Diana Lamppu and Gregory J. LaRosa were employed by Cornerstone Therapeutics, Inc. during the course of the study. Co-authors Jessica Koepke, Lisette Bevaart and Margriet J. Vervoordeldonk are employed by Arthrogen BV. Co-author Daniel Elbaum is employed by DEC Associates, LLC. Roger Clark and Dan Elbaum hold a patent on “NOVEL PIPERAZINES, PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF”; variables of piperazine derivatives can act as agonists of the alpha7 nAChR (WO2007146066). The current controller of the patent is Targacept. Targacept licensed the patent from Cornerstone, which before that licensed it from Critical Therapeutics (original applier). This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: MAvM RLP GJLR PPT MJV. Performed the experiments: MAvM RLP JK LB RC DL. Analyzed the data: MAvM RLP FK GJLR PPT MJV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: DE RC GJLR. Wrote the paper: MAvM RLP FK DE GJLR PPT MJV.