Respiratory mucus contains a mixture of gel-forming mucins but the functional significance of these different mucin species is unknown. To help gain a better understanding of mucus in airways we therefore need to ascertain the concentration of each of the gel-forming mucins within respiratory secretions. Thus the aim of this study was to determine the amounts of specific gel-forming mucins dire...

For more than a century the concept of mucin was associated with material secreted in mucus. Mucins (including blood group substances), the main constituents of most mucus, were probably the first type of compounds to be clearly recognized as glycoproteins. However, the precise definition of mucins in general, as well as that of respiratory mucins, is still evolving due to the complexity of the...

Mucins have been implicated in circumventing the defenses of the body against tumorigenesis. A better understanding of the structures of nun-ins may assist in the development of new therapeutic approaches. Monoclonal antibody Ea6. developed against mucins purified from xenografts of the pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990, was used to identify a new type of pancreatic cancer mucin. The following...

We have isolated the high-M(r) mucins from growth medium of the early stage of an HT-29 cell culture by gel chromatography and isopycnic density gradient centrifugation. The mucins (buoyant density 1.34-1.44 g/ml) were reactive with an anti-peptide antiserum (MAN-5ACI) raised against a sequence from within the MUC5AC mucin. Similar antisera raised against the MUC2 and MUC5B mucins were not reac...

Mucus, epithelial mucins and cytoprotection Epithelial mucins are widely accepted to play cytoprotective roles in the gastrointestinal tract. However, the number and nature of these complex glycoproteins is only just beginning to emerge. We aimed to identify the mucins in biopsies from human small intestine and colon in health and disease, by raising specific antisera and studying the biosynthe...

Abstract Indole-3-carbinol (I3C) is a dietary compound that acts as ligand for the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), an important sensor environmental polyaromatic chemicals and regulator of immune response. The pathogenesis colitis involves multiple interactions between microbial dysbiosis, dysregulation host response, factors, genetic profile. Indeed, studies have shown defective expression Ah...

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi), is characterized by immunopathology driven by IFN-γ secreting Th1-like T cells. T. cruzi has a thick coat of mucin-like glycoproteins covering its surface, which plays an important role in parasite invasion and host immunomodulation. It has been extensively described that T. cruzi or its products-like GPI anchors iso...

Secreted and transmembrane mucins are important components of innate defence at the body's mucosal surfaces. The secreted mucins are large, polymeric glycoproteins, which are largely responsible for the gel-like properties of mucus secretions. The cell-tethered mucins, however, are monomeric but are typically composed of two subunits, a larger extracellular subunit which is heavily glycosylated...

To investigate the genetic identities of the mucins secreted in cystic fibrosis (CF) airways, sputum was collected from five individuals. Samples were separated into gel and sol phases by high-speed centrifugation and the gel phase was extracted in 6 M guanidinium chloride. The 'insoluble' residue remaining after extraction of the gel phase was brought into solution by reduction/alkylation. Den...