ArticlePLoS pathogens2023
Glycosylated extracellular mucin domains protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection at the respiratory surface.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Age-related remodeling of the intestinal mucus barrier in pigs: implications for post-weaning diarrhea.Veterinary and animal science · 2026Article
- Mucins and Respiratory Virus Infection.Annual review of virology · 2026Review
- The primary cilium as a compartmentalized signaling hub in tissue immunity and homeostasis.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Maintenance and disruption of mucous barrier homeostasis: the critical role of MUC5AC/MUC5B balance in airway diseases.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Airway mucus in infection.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Review
- Glycocalyx at the host-virus interface: a double-edged sword in virus infection and tissue damage.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2026Review
- Nasal mucus-derived KLK13 restricts SARS-CoV-2 infection via proteolytic cleavage of spike.mBio · 2025Article
- Article
- MICBG406A polymorphism reduces risk of mechanical ventilation and death during viral acute lung injury.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Differentially expressed ncRNAs as key regulators in infection of human bronchial epithelial cells by the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant.Molecular therapy. Nucleic acids · 2025Article
- Variable DPP4 expression in multiciliated cells of the human nasal epithelium as a determinant for MERS-CoV tropism.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Article
- Oral SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Risk for Long Covid.Reviews in medical virology · 2025Review
- Rapid virucidal activity of an air sanitizer against aerosolized MS2 and Phi6 phage surrogates for non-enveloped and enveloped vertebrate viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Synergistic effects ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2025Article
- Eight-fold increased COVID-19 mortality in autosomal dominant tubulointerstitial kidney disease due to MUC1 mutations: an observational study.BMC nephrology · 2024Observational
- Review
- Inhibition of transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 reduces shedding and transmission duringInfection and immunity · 2024Article
- Interleukin 13-Induced Inflammation Increases DPP4 Abundance but Does Not Enhance Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Replication in Airway Epithelia.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Mucosal Immunity against SARS-CoV-2 in the Respiratory Tract.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mucins play an essential role in protecting the respiratory tract against microbial infections while also acting as binding sites for bacterial and viral adhesins. The heavily O-glycosylated gel-forming mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B eliminate pathogens by mucociliary clearance. Transmembrane mucins MUC1, MUC4, and MUC16 can restrict microbial invasion at the apical surface of the epithelium. In this study, we determined the impact of host mucins and mucin glycans on epithelial entry of SARS-CoV-2. Human lung epithelial Calu-3 cells express the SARS-CoV-2 entry receptor ACE2 and high levels of glycosylated MUC1, but not MUC4 and MUC16, on their cell surface. The O-glycan-specific mucinase StcE specifically removed the glycosylated part of the MUC1 extracellular domain while leaving the underlying SEA domain and cytoplasmic tail intact. StcE treatment of Calu-3 cells significantly enhanced infection with SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus and authentic virus, while removal of terminal mucin glycans sialic acid and fucose from the epithelial surface did not impact viral entry. In Calu-3 cells, the transmembrane mucin MUC1 and ACE2 are located to the apical surface in close proximity and StcE treatment results in enhanced binding of purified spike protein. Both MUC1 and MUC16 are expressed on the surface of human organoid-derived air-liquid interface (ALI) differentiated airway cultures and StcE treatment led to mucin removal and increased levels of SARS-CoV-2 replication. In these cultures, MUC1 was highly expressed in non-ciliated cells while MUC16 was enriched in goblet cells. In conclusion, the glycosylated extracellular domains of different transmembrane mucins might have similar protective functions in different respiratory cell types by restricting SARS-CoV-2 binding and entry.
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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.