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Lack of airway submucosal glands impairs respiratory host defenses
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Lack of airway submucosal glands impairs respiratory host defenses

Lynda S Ostedgaard, Margaret P Price, Kristin M Whitworth, Mahmoud H Abou Alaiwa, Anthony J Fischer, Akshaya Warrier, Melissa Samuel, Lee D Spate, Patrick D Allen, Brieanna M Hilkin, …
eLife, Vol.9, pp.1-25
10/07/2020
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.59653
PMCID: PMC7541087
PMID: 33026343
url
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.59653View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Submucosal glands (SMGs) are a prominent structure that lines human cartilaginous airways. Although it has been assumed that SMGs contribute to respiratory defense, that hypothesis has gone without a direct test. Therefore, we studied pigs, which have lungs like humans, and disrupted the gene for ectodysplasin ( ), which initiates SMG development. pigs lacked SMGs throughout the airways. Their airway surface liquid had a reduced ability to kill bacteria, consistent with SMG production of antimicrobials. In wild-type pigs, SMGs secrete mucus that emerges onto the airway surface as strands. Lack of SMGs and mucus strands disrupted mucociliary transport in pigs. Consequently, pigs failed to eradicate a bacterial challenge in lung regions normally populated by SMGs. These in vivo and ex vivo results indicate that SMGs are required for normal antimicrobial activity and mucociliary transport, two key host defenses that protect the lung.
Animals Ectodysplasins - genetics Ectodysplasins - immunology Exocrine Glands - immunology Female Gene Knockout Techniques Male Respiratory Mucosa - immunology Staphylococcus aureus - physiology Sus scrofa - genetics Sus scrofa - immunology

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