Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22929560›Full record

ArticleMucosal immunology2013

Molecular organization of the mucins and glycocalyx underlying mucus transport over mucosal surfaces of the airways.

M Kesimer, C Ehre, K A Burns, C W Davis, J K Sheehan, R J Pickles

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Mucosal immunology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
132citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
8.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

132 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 214 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Mucins and Respiratory Virus Infection.Annual review of virology · 2026
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Hyaluronan Ameliorates Viral Pneumonia in Mice and Humans by Inhibiting Transcription Factor E2F1.American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology · 2026
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Airway mucus in infection.Frontiers in physiology · 2026
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Biophysical modeling of membrane curvature generation and curvature sensing by the glycocalyx.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  20. Article

72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

M KesimerCystic Fibrosis/Pulmonary Research and Treatment Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. mehmet_kesimer@med.unc.edu
C Ehre
K A Burns
C W Davis
J K Sheehan
R J Pickles
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · US

Funding

The Mucus Transport Apparatus: Why Two Layers?P50HL084934 · NHLBI · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI BOUCHER, RICHARD CHARLES · 2006 to 2010
$15.6M
CFTR Delivery to Ciliated Airway Cells by PIV VectorsR01HL077844 · NHLBI · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI PICKLES, RAYMOND J · 2005 to 2009
$1.9M
The role of mucin-protein interactions in the innate defense of the lungR01HL103940 · NHLBI · UNIV OF NORTH CAROLINA CHAPEL HILL · PI KESIMER, MEHMET · 2010 to 2014
$1.8M
NHLBI NIH HHS P50 HL084934NHLBI NIH HHS P50HL084934NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL077844NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL103940NHLBI NIH HHS R01HL103940NHLBI NIH HHS R01HL77844
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Mucus, with its burden of inspired particulates and pathogens, is cleared from mucosal surfaces of the airways by cilia beating within the periciliary layer (PCL). The PCL is held to be "watery" and free of mucus by thixotropic-like forces arising from beating cilia. With radii of gyration ~250 nm, however, polymeric mucins should reptate readily into the PCL, so we assessed the glycocalyx for barrier functions. The PCL stained negative for MUC5AC and MUC5B, but it was positive for keratan sulfate (KS), a glycosaminoglycan commonly associated with glycoconjugates. Shotgun proteomics showed KS-rich fractions from mucus containing abundant tethered mucins, MUC1, MUC4, and MUC16, but no proteoglycans. Immuno-histology by light and electron microscopy localized MUC1 to microvilli, MUC4 and MUC20 to cilia, and MUC16 to goblet cells. Electron and atomic force microscopy revealed molecular lengths of 190-1,500 nm for tethered mucins, and a finely textured glycocalyx matrix filling interciliary spaces. Adenoviral particles were excluded from glycocalyx of the microvilli, whereas the smaller adenoassociated virus penetrated, but were trapped within. Hence, tethered mucins organized as a space-filling glycocalyx function as a selective barrier for the PCL, broadening their role in innate lung defense and offering new molecular targets for conventional and gene therapies.

Indexed as

AdenoviridaeAnimalsCell Culture TechniquesCiliaDependovirusEpithelial CellsGlycocalyxGlycosaminoglycansGuinea PigsHumansKeratan SulfateMucinsMucusRespiratory MucosaGlycosaminoglycansKeratan SulfateMucins

Identifiers

PMID22929560
PMCPMC3637662
OpenAlexW2013503901

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.