| Popis: |
The best-known phenotype that correlates with seemingly unrelated airway diseases, such as COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis (CF), is the accumulation of thick, “sticky” mucus in the airways. Previous literature has shown1 that proper hydration of both mucus and periciliary layer (PCL) is required for efficient mucus clearance and that abnormalities in both layers are manifested in lung diseases (Fig. 1). Adherent mucus initiates inflammatory responses, airway wall damage, and serves as a growth medium for pathogenic microorganisms. Mucus is dominated by two large, heavily glycosylated mucin proteins, MUC5B and MUC5AC. It has been recently hypothesized that different airway diseases, such as chronic bronchitis and asthma have different ratios of MUC5AC to MUC5B expression. The hypothesis of this proposal that will be tested is that mucus in MUC5AC-dominated diseases clears differently from mucus in MUC5B-dominated diseases due to differences in their biophysical properties |
