Role of Mutant CFTR in Hypersusceptibility of Cystic Fibrosis Patients to Lung Infections

doi:10.1126/science.271.5245.64

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Science 5 January 1996:
Vol. 271. no. 5245, pp. 64 - 67
DOI: 10.1126/science.271.5245.64

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Reports

Role of Mutant CFTR in Hypersusceptibility of Cystic Fibrosis Patients to Lung Infections

Gerald B. Pier (1), Martha Grout, Tanweer S. Zaidi, John C. Olsen, Larry G. Johnson, James R. Yankaskas, Joanna B. Goldberg

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are hypersusceptible to chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infections. Cultured human airway epithelial cells expressing the Delta F508 allele of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) were defective in uptake of P. aeruginosa compared with cells expressing the wild-type allele. Pseudomonas aeruginosa lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-core oligosaccharide was identified as the bacterial ligand for epithelial cell ingestion; exogenous oligosaccharide inhibited bacterial ingestion in a neonatal mouse model, resulting in increased amounts of bacteria in the lungs. CFTR may contribute to a host-defense mechanism that is important for clearance of P. aeruginosa from the respiratory tract.

G. B. Pier, M. Grout, T. S. Zaidi, J. B. Goldberg, Channing Laboratory and Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115-5899, USA.
J. C. Olsen, L. G. Johnson, J. R. Yankaskas, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary Diseases, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7020, USA.
(1) To whom correspondence should be addressed.