Comparison of Mucin and Lysozyme Expression between Human in vivo Nasal Epithelial Cells and Cultured Nasal Epithelial Cells / 대한이비인후과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to compare the expression of mucin and lysozyme in passage-2 normal human nasal epithelial (NHNE) cells with those in human in vivo nasal epithelium and human tracheal RNA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cell lysates and total RNA from passage-2 NHNE cells, and human in vivo nasal epithelial cells were obtained. The amount of mucin and lysozyme protein was measured by immunoblotting. and qualitative RT-PCR was done to investigate the expression of mucin mRNAs and lysozyme mRNA. RESULTS: Passage-2 NHNE cells contained 16% of mucin and 76% of lysozyme when compared to the amount of intracellular mucin and lysozyme of normal in vivo nasal epithelial cells. MUC4, MUC5AC, MUC7, MUC8 and lysozyme mRNAs were expressed in passage-2 NHNE cells. However, MUC2 and MUC5B mRNAs were not expressed. CONCLUSION: Passage-2 NHNE cells contain enough amount of mucin and lysozyme protein and express most mRNAs of secretory genes which are known to be expressed in the human airway. Thus, we find passage-2 NHNE cells to be suitable for conducting studies on secretions in the human upper airway.