Mucus: It's the quality that counts

Abstract

Lung Disease In patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or other lung diseases, airway mucus can be highly elastic and very difficult to clear, leading to airflow obstruction and lung infection. Now, Yuan et al. show that the biophysical properties of mucus from CF patients are altered because of neutrophilic oxidative stress. To combat this, they targeted mucin disulfide crosslinks with a thiol-modified carbohydrate and produced fast-acting mucolytic activity toward CF sputum. Their findings support the use of mucolytics as a therapeutic strategy for treating CF and related inflammatory lung diseases. Sci. Transl. Med. 7 , 276ra27 (2015).