ArticleScience translational medicine2015
Oxidation increases mucin polymer cross-links to stiffen airway mucus gels.
Article in Science translational medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 134 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
134 citing papers in PubMed, 258 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intranasal micro-optical coherence tomography imaging for cystic fibrosis studies.Science translational medicine · 2019Trial
- Inhaled Heparin to Shorten Antibiotic Duration in Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Trial.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Micro/nanoscale bubble-mediated mucolytic conditioning of the lung model of cystic fibrosis enhances nanoparticle transport through the mucus.Biomaterials · 2026Article
- Eosinophil biology in COPD: from scientific insight to clinical treatment action.ERJ open research · 2026Review
- Airway mucus plugs in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: pathobiology, imaging, and implications for clinical trials.American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine · 2026Review
- Myeloperoxidase impairs mucociliary transport on human airway epithelium.Disease models & mechanisms · 2026Article
- Mucoactive Agents in Muco-Obstructive Lung Diseases: A Critical Reappraisal of Pharmacological Effects and Clinical Outcomes.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Proteome Analysis of Nasolacrimal Duct Lavage Fluid in Patients with Primary Acquired Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Mucus Plugs and Eosinophilic Inflammation: Expanding the Paradigm to COPD.The journal of allergy and clinical immunology. In practice · 2026Review
- Changes in sputum viscoelastic properties and airway inflammation in primary ciliary dyskinesia are comparable to cystic fibrosis on elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor therapy.The European respiratory journal · 2026Article
- Airway mucus in infection.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- High-resolution multimodal imaging reveals spatial and temporal heterogeneity of airway mucus plugging in mice with muco-obstructive lung disease.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Porcine airway tissue explant culture at a hydrogel-air interface to model submucosal glands in cystic fibrosis progression and therapy.Science advances · 2025Article
- Myeloperoxidase impairs mucociliary transport on human airway epithelium.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Structure-guided design of nucleosome-inspired nanoparticles for overcoming pulmonary barriers in fibrotic lung gene therapy.Science advances · 2025Article
- Hyperconcentrated mucus in small airways: a mechanistic model for the pathogenesis of paediatric bronchiectasis.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2025Review
- Host- and microbial-mediated mucin degradation differentially shape Pseudomonas aeruginosa physiology and gene expression.PLoS pathogens · 2025Article
- Article
- Multi-Functional Polydopamine-Mucin Hollow Particles Provide Tunable Shell Permeability, ROS Scavenging, Tissue Adhesion, and Lubricity for Biomedical Applications.Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2025Article
- Optimized Artificial Colonic Mucus Enabling Physiologically Relevant Diffusion Studies of Drugs, Particles, and Delivery Systems.Molecular pharmaceutics · 2025Article
74 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Airway mucus in cystic fibrosis (CF) is highly elastic, but the mechanism behind this pathology is unclear. We hypothesized that the biophysical properties of CF mucus are altered because of neutrophilic oxidative stress. Using confocal imaging, rheology, and biochemical measures of inflammation and oxidation, we found that CF airway mucus gels have a molecular architecture characterized by a core of mucin covered by a web of DNA and a rheological profile characterized by high elasticity that can be normalized by chemical reduction. We also found that high levels of reactive oxygen species in CF mucus correlated positively and significantly with high concentrations of the oxidized products of cysteine (disulfide cross-links). To directly determine whether oxidation can cross-link mucins to increase mucus elasticity, we exposed induced sputum from healthy subjects to oxidizing stimuli and found a marked and thiol-dependent increase in sputum elasticity. Targeting mucin disulfide cross-links using current thiol-amino structures such as N-acetylcysteine (NAC) requires high drug concentrations to have mucolytic effects. We therefore synthesized a thiol-carbohydrate structure (methyl 6-thio-6-deoxy-α-D-galactopyranoside) and found that it had stronger reducing activity than NAC and more potent and fast-acting mucolytic activity in CF sputum. Thus, oxidation arising from airway inflammation or environmental exposure contributes to pathologic mucus gel formation in the lung, which suggests that it can be targeted by thiol-modified carbohydrates.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.