Mucus: Quality counts
Sniffing, sneezing, coughing—from allergies to the common cold, too much mucus can cause misery. Yet, the ability to get mucus up and out is critical to its function. In patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or other lung diseases, airway mucus can be highly elastic and much more difficult to clear, leading to airflow obstruction and lung infection. Now, Yuan et al. find that the biophysical properties of mucus from CF patients are altered because of neutrophilic oxidative stress. On the basis of these properties, they then targeted mucin disulfide cross-links with a thiol-modified carbohydrate, and found fast-acting mucolytic activity in CF sputum. Their findings support the use of mucolytics as a therapeutic strategy for CF and related inflammatory lung diseases.
- Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science
