Muc2 Mucin Alters Intestinal Epithelial Barrier Function
Date
2013-05-16
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Abstract
Intestinal epithelial barrier function is critical to host protection against pathogens, and it is one of the first defence mechanisms affected in gastrointestinal disease. Barrier function is maintained by a three part system involving bacteria and host proteins in the intestinal lumen, the mucus layer and peptides embedded in it, and intestinal epithelial cells and tight junctions between them. Together these components act synergistically to maintain barrier function, and a change in any of these may result in increased permeability to pathogens and antigenic stimuli, and aberrant activation of immune cells. The intestinal mucus layer, at the centre of this system is critical to the proper functioning of all components. These studies illustrate that in the absence of an intact mucus layer, intestinal barrier function is compromised, disease susceptibility is increased and recovery following injury delayed. These studies also investigated whether or not susceptibility to dextran sulfate sodium induced colitis could be modulated with probiotics. In addition, the functional roles of an intact mucus layer in Entamoeba histolytica-induced acute inflammatory and permeability responses in the colon were examined. Probiotic therapy using VSL#3 was ineffective at limiting injury or accelerating colonic healing. The data presented here illustrate that Muc2-/- animals were highly susceptible to E. histolytica induced secretory responses through altered expression of various tight junction proteins. These findings unravel a novel role for MUC2 mucin in conferring both luminal and epithelial barrier functions critical in innate host defence against intestinal infection and wound healing.
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Microbiology, Parasitology, Immunology
Citation
Kissoon-Singh, V. (2013). Muc2 Mucin Alters Intestinal Epithelial Barrier Function (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27020