{"doi":"10.17615/wdrw-2p26","title":"Contribution of mucus concentration and secreted mucins Muc5ac and Muc5b to the pathogenesis of muco-obstructive lung disease","abstract":"Airway diseases, including cigarette smoke-induced chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, and primary ciliary dyskinesia are associated with decreased mucociliary clearance (MCC). However, it is not known whether a simple reduction in MCC or concentration-dependent mucus adhesion to airway surfaces dominates disease pathogenesis or whether decreasing the concentration of secreted mucins may be therapeutic. To address these questions, Scnn1b-Tg mice, which exhibit airway mucus dehydration/adhesion, were compared to and crossed with Muc5b- and Muc5ac-deficient mice. Absence of Muc5b caused a 90% reduction in MCC, whereas Scnn1b-Tg mice exhibited an ~50% reduction. However, the degree of MCC reduction did not correlate with bronchitic airways pathology, which was observed only in Scnn1b-Tg mice. Ablation of Muc5b significantly reduced the extent of mucus plugging in Scnn1b-Tg mice. However, complete absence of Muc5b in Scnn1b-Tg mice was associated with increased airway inflammation, suggesting that Muc5b is required to maintain immune homeostasis. Loss of Muc5ac had few phenotypic consequences in Scnn1b-Tg mice. These data suggest that: (1) mucus hyperconcentration dominates over MCC reduction alone to produce bronchitic airways pathology; (2) Muc5b is the dominant contributor to the Scnn1b-Tg phenotype; and (3) therapies that limit mucin secretion may reduce plugging, but complete Muc5b removal from airway surfaces may be detrimental.","journal":"UNC Libraries","year":2020,"id":116157,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9455,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":544526,"name":"Evans","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":544527,"name":"Wilkinson","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":207715,"name":"Burns","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":544528,"name":"Grubb,","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":544529,"name":"Volmer,","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":544530,"name":"Boucher","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":544531,"name":"Wilkinson,","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":544525,"name":"O'Neal,","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:13:44.286758Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}