Mucins and Their Roles in Asthma

Mucus is a crucial component of airway host defense. For optimal protection, its chief components—the mucins MUC5AC and MUC5B—need to be tightly regulated. Their expression localizes to specific secretory epithelial cell types capable of producing and secreting massive glycopolymers. In asthma, abnormal mucus is an important clinical problem that is effectively treated with therapies that directly target mucins. This review summarizes what is known about how mucin gene regulation, protein synthesis, and secretion are regulated in healthy and asthmatic lungs. Ultimately, a better understanding of these processes could help identify novel ways of preventing or reversing airway mucus dysfunction.