Throughout the cold and flu season, an overabundance of mucus is a common and unpleasant symptom of illness. However, this slippery substance is crucial to human health. Researchers have synthesized the primary component of mucus, known as mucins, which are sugar-coated proteins. They discovered that altering the mucins of healthy cells to resemble those of cancer cells caused healthy cells to behave more like cancer cells.
According to Jessica Kramer, a professor of biomedical engineering who led the study, mucus was historically considered a waste material or a simple barrier. While it does act as a barrier, regulating the transport of small molecules and particulates to underlying epithelial cells that line the respiratory and digestive tracts, it also serves many other purposes.
Research indicates that mucus and mucins are biologically active, playing roles in immunity, cell behavior, and defense against pathogens and cancer. For example, Kramer’s team at the University of Utah recently found that specific sugars attached to mucins inhibited coronavirus infection in cell culture.
Kramer explains that studying mucus and mucins is challenging due to the wide variety of protein structures they possess. Humans share over 20 mucin genes, which are expressed differently in various tissues and are spliced to generate a range of proteins. Additionally, cells modify these proteins in numerous ways with different sugars to meet the body’s needs.
Genetic factors alone do not determine mucin composition. Dietary and environmental factors can also influence which sugars become attached to these proteins. Therefore, mucus composition can vary significantly from person to person, from day to day, and from tissue to tissue, making it difficult to identify the biological effects of any given mucin.
2024-03-18 16:00:04
Article from phys.org