Table 3.

Induced sputum protein and Neprilysin (NEP)

	Total protein (μg/μl)a			NEP (nmol/μg protein/min)b
	Baseline	OS	DE	Baseline	OS	DE
	1.05	0.95	1.07	0.364	0.527	0.369
	0.66	0.96	0.99	0.445	0.475	0.431
	1.00	0.90	0.97	0.436	0.612	0.507
	1.27	1.30	1.21	0.258	0.380	0.465
	0.41	0.63	0.84	0.395	0.529	0.399
	0.56	0.62	0.43	0.294	0.824	0.558
	0.82	1.08	1.13	0.413	0.408	0.272
	1.16	0.84	0.79	0.159	0.298	0.382
	0.74	0.95	0.92	0.289	0.240	0.332
	0.94	1.09	1.00	0.164	0.151	0.324
	0.41	0.47	0.32	0.115	0.284	0.320
Mean	0.82	0.89	0.88	0.303	0.430	0.396
SEM	0.09	0.07	0.08	0.036	0.058	0.026
p-values*		0.24	0.42		0.023	0.035

^aProtein concentration was determined using a Coomassie Plus Protein Assay using BSA as a standard.

^bCell-free NEP activity in induced sputum was measured spectrophotometrically;

^*p-values based on a two-tailed, paired sample t-test (N = 11).