TY - JOUR T1 - Evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of NEATstik® technology compared to an activity-based immunoassay in sputum samples from participants with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J DO - 10.1183/13993003.02412-2019 SP - 1902412 AU - Samantha J. Thulborn AU - Jennifer L. Cane AU - Clare Connolly AU - Catherine Borg AU - Kelly L. Moffitt AU - David Ribeiro AU - Charlene Robb AU - Richard E.K. Russell AU - Mona Bafadhel Y1 - 2020/01/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2020/02/06/13993003.02412-2019.abstract N2 - Chronic bacterial infection may play an important role in the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) [1] with the pulmonary inflammatory response driven by neutrophils [2]. Neutrophil elastase (NE) is a serine protease stored and secreted by neutrophils [3] and is an essential defense against bacterial infection [4]. Proteases are produced and stored in the latent form and are only activated upon appropriate signalling [5].FootnotesThis manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal. It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article.Conflict of interest: Dr. Thulborn has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Cane has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Connolly has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Borg has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Moffitt has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Ribeiro reports and David Ribeiro is an employee of ProAxsis Limited, which manufactures both the NEATstik test and the ProteaseTag Active Neutrophil Elastase immunoassay.Conflict of interest: Dr. Robb has nothing to disclose.Conflict of interest: Dr. Russell reports personal fees from Boehringer Ingelheim Ltd, grants and personal fees from AstraZeneca Ltd, personal fees from Chiesi Pharma Lts, personal fees from GlaxoSmithKline Ltd, grants from Circassia Ltd, personal fees from Teva Uk Ltd, outside the submitted work.Conflict of interest: Dr. Bafadhel reports grants from NIHR, during the conduct of the study; personal fees and non-financial support from AZ, BI, Chiesi, GSK, Novartis, Teva, outside the submitted work. ER -