Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF RESPIRATORY CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
Volume 48, Issue 6, Pages 717-724Publisher
AMER THORACIC SOC
DOI: 10.1165/rcmb.2012-0072OC
Keywords
SPLUNC1; inflammation; innate; immunity; mucosa
Funding
- National Institutes of Health [RO1-HL081160, R21-AI083475, T32-HL007778]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Short palate, lung, and nasal epithelial clone-1 (SPLUNC1) is a protein abundantly expressed by the respiratory epithelium of the proximal lower respiratory tract, a site of great environmental exposure. Previous studies showed that SPLUNC1 exerts antimicrobial effects, regulates airway surface liquid and mucociliary clearance, and suppresses allergic airway inflammation. We studied SPLUNC1 to gain insights into its role in host defense. In the lower respiratory tract, concentrations of SPLUNC1 are high under basal conditions. In models of pneumonia caused by common respiratory pathogens, and in Th1-induced and Th2-induced airway inflammation, SPLUNC1 secretion is markedly reduced. Pathogen-associated molecular patterns and IFN-gamma act directly on airway epithelial cells to inhibit SPLUNC1 mRNA expression. Thus, SPLUNC1 is quickly suppressed during infection, in response to an insult on the epithelial surface. These experiments highlight the finely tuned fluctuations of SPLUNC1 in response to exposures in the respiratory tract, and suggest that the loss of SPLUNC1 is a crucial feature of host defense across air-breathing animal species.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available