BACKGROUND Mucins are large complex glycoproteins that protect intestinal mucosal surfaces by limiting access of environmental matter to their epithelial cells. Several mucin genes have been described, including MUC3 that is a membrane associated mucin of the small intestine. Increased MUC3 mRNA transcription is induced by incubation of intestinal epithelial cells with a Lactobacillus strain kn...

Acrolein, a low-molecular-weight aldehyde found in photochemical smog and tobacco smoke, can induce mucus hypersecretion, inflammation, and airway hyperreactivity. To determine whether changes in steady-state mucin gene expression (MUC2 and MUC5ac) are associated with histological signs of mucus hypersecretion, rats were exposed to acrolein (3.0 parts/million, 6 h/day, 5 days/wk, 2 wk), and the...

background: chronic inflammation and dys-regulation of the immune system mechanisms are now well established as primary triggers of gastric cancer and peptic ulcer disease. galectin-9 (gal-9) is a member of the galectin family and known as an inducer of cell aggregation, adhesion and apoptosis. gal-9 interaction with its main ligand t-cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain protein-3 (tim-3) leads...

The sequential events and the inflammatory mediators that characterize disease onset and progression of ulcerative colitis (UC) are not well known. In this study, we evaluated the early pathologic events in the pathogenesis of colonic ulcers in rats treated with dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Following a lag phase, day 5 of DSS treatment was found clinically most critical as disease activity ind...

The cause of the mucus clearance problems associated with cystic fibrosis remains poorly understood though it has been suggested that mucin hypersecretion, dehydration of mucins, and biochemical abnormalities in the glycosylation of mucins may be responsible. Since the biochemical and biophysical properties of a mucin are dependent on O-glycosylation, our aim was to evaluate the O-glycosylation...

Vitamin A and the T helper 2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-13 play important roles in the induction of mucin gene expression and mucus hypersecretion. However, the effects of these agents on enzymes responsible for mucin glycosylation have received little attention. Here, we report the upregulation of core 2 beta1,6 N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (C2GnT) activity both by all-trans retinoic acid (RA) a...

A gene encoding the mucin-desulfating sulfatase in Prevotella strain RS2 has been cloned, sequenced, and expressed in an active form. A 600-bp PCR product generated using primers designed from amino acid sequence data was used to isolate a 5,058-bp genomic DNA fragment containing the mucin-desulfating sulfatase gene. A 1,551-bp open reading frame encoding the sulfatase proprotein was identified...