Publications by authors named "Jonathan C Ratoff"
Article Synopsis
- Glucose levels in normal human airway surface liquid are significantly lower than in blood, suggesting epithelial cells play a role in regulating lung glucose balance.
- The research identified glucose transporters GLUT2 and GLUT4 in human airway epithelial cells, with GLUT2 found in both non-polarized and polarized cells.
- The study indicates that glucose uptake in these cells primarily occurs through GLUT2-mediated transport, highlighting its potential significance in maintaining glucose homeostasis in the airways.
Rationale: Altered airway smooth muscle (ASM) function and enrichment of the extracellular matrix (ECM) with fibronectin and collagen are key features of asthma. Previously, we have reported these ECM proteins enhance ASM synthetic function.
Objective: We compared ASM cultured from endobronchial biopsies from subjects with and without asthma to assess if asthmatic cells were hypersecretory and determined whether the underlying mechanism involved autocrine ECM production.