Attached stratified mucus separates bacteria from the epithelial cells in COPD lungs.

Content Provider	Semantic Scholar
Author	Fernández-Blanco, Joan Antoni Fakih, Dalia Arike, Liisa Rodríguez-Piñeiro, Ana María Martínez-Abad, Beatriz Skansebo, Elin Jackson, Sonya G. Root, James T. Singh, Dave McCrae, Christopher Evans, Christopher M. Åstrand, Annika Ermund, Anna Hansson, Gunnar C.
Copyright Year	2018
Abstract	The respiratory tract is normally kept essentially free of bacteria by cilia-mediated mucus transport, but in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cystic fibrosis (CF), bacteria and mucus accumulates instead. To address the mechanisms behind the mucus accumulation, the proteome of bronchoalveolar lavages from COPD patients and mucus collected in an elastase-induced mouse model of COPD was analyzed, revealing similarities with each other and with the protein content in colonic mucus. Moreover, stratified laminated sheets of mucus were observed in airways from patients with CF and COPD and in elastase-exposed mice. On the other hand, the mucus accumulation in the elastase model was reduced in Muc5b-KO mice. While mucus plugs were removed from airways by washing with hypertonic saline in the elastase model, mucus remained adherent to epithelial cells. Bacteria were trapped on this mucus, whereas, in non-elastase-treated mice, bacteria were found on the epithelial cells. We propose that the adherence of mucus to epithelial cells observed in CF, COPD, and the elastase-induced mouse model of COPD separates bacteria from the surface cells and, thus, protects the respiratory epithelium.
File Format	PDF HTM / HTML
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://df6sxcketz7bb.cloudfront.net/manuscripts/120000/120994/cache/120994.1-20180830111002-covered-253bed37ca4c1ab43d105aefdf7b5536.pdf
PubMed reference number	30185674v1
Alternate Webpage(s)	https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.120994
DOI	10.1172/jci.insight.120994
Journal	JCI insight
Volume Number	3
Issue Number	17
Language	English
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Airway structure Bronchoalveolar Lavage Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease Cilia Colon structure (body structure) Cystic Fibrosis Elastases Irrigation Lung Diseases, Obstructive Lung diseases Pancreatic Elastase Patients Plug (physical object) Respiratory tract structure Salt-Tolerant Plants Structure of respiratory epithelium Wash (cleansing action)
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article