Published ahead of print on January 13, 2006, doi:10.1165/rcmb.2005-0436SF Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol., Volume 34, Number 5, May 2006, 527-536 A more recent version of this article appeared on May 1, 2006
Submitted on November 28, 2005 Airway Mucus: From Production to SecretionOlatunji W Williams1,1 Department of Pediatric Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA, 2 Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA; Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Michael E. Debakey Houston VA Medical Center, Houston, TX, USA, 3 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Temple University Hospital, Temple Lung Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 4 Department of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: cevans{at}mdanderson.org.
Mucus hypersecretion is a phenotype associated with multiple obstructive lung diseases. However, in spite of its nefarious reputation under pathological conditions, there are significant benefits to having low levels of mucus present in the airways at baseline, such as the ability to trap and eliminate inhaled particles and to prevent desiccation of airway surfaces. Mucins are high molecular weight glycoproteins that are the chief components that render viscoelastic and gel-forming properties to mucus. Recent advances in animal models and in vitro systems have provided a wealth of information regarding the identification of the mucin genes that are expressed in the lungs, the signal transduction pathways that regulate the expression of these mucins, and the secretory pathways that mediate their release into the airways. In addition, the clinical and pathological literature has corroborated many of the basic laboratory findings. As a result, mucin overproduction and hypersecretion are moving away from being markers of disease and towards being testable as functional components of lung disease processes.
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