Different goblet cells are important to maintain a protective mucus layer in the intestine

Intestinal health is central to our wellbeing where a balance between luminal compounds as the microbiota and the tissue are vital. The area of interplay is made up of the mucus covering the whole epithelial surface.

The integrity and renewal of the colonic mucus layer is essential to limit bacterial exposure and inflammatory responses.

We have recently shown that the mucus layer is formed from mucus with different properties secreted from specific goblet cells.

Details how the core proteins contribute to build the mucus structure and how the different types of goblet cells, that we recently identified, contributes are still missing.

Our continued work aim to gain a better understanding of the mucus structure, the interactions involved and the contribution of different goblet cells. Knowledge about this system is important as impaired mucus protection is linked to colitis.

Defects involve both structural alterations and impairment of specific goblet cells but if these are causative is not clear.

We will now investigate the involvement of the mucus system during colitis development and identify specific defects in ulcerative colitis patients to gain more knowledge and enable development of improved treatments.