<p>HMGB-1 had strong statistically significant associations with A) concurrent FEV1% and B) number of APE suffered in the year prior sputum sample collection. These results illustrate the immediate clinical relevance of HMGB-1. C) GM-CSF measured at APE time-points had an extremely strong univariate association with the size of the APE-associated decline in FEV<sub>1</sub>% for each of 26 patients in Group 2. D) Although the univariate relationship with APE-associated FEV<sub>1</sub>% decline was weak (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0042748#pone.0042748.s005" target="_blank">Table S3</a>), the addition of IL-5 as a covariate to GM-CSF significantly strengthened the multivariate linear regression model of APE-associated decline in FEV<sub>1</sub>% (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0042748#pone-0042748-t005" target="_blank">Table 5</a>).</p
