Publications by authors named "Kenza C Araba"

Article Synopsis
  • Mucus properties in lung diseases like asthma and cystic fibrosis are altered due to factors like excessive mucus secretion and airway dehydration, impacting respiratory function.
  • A new benchtop device called Rheomuco can quickly and easily measure the viscoelastic properties of mucus, providing results in under 5 minutes, which is beneficial for clinical assessments.
  • The study validated the device's performance against traditional methods and demonstrated its ability to detect significant changes in mucus consistency, highlighting its potential for optimizing treatments with mucoactive drugs.
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Zoonotic transmission of coronaviruses poses an ongoing threat to human populations. Endemic outbreaks of swine acute diarrhea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) have caused severe economic losses in the pig industry and have the potential to cause human outbreaks. Currently, there are no vaccines or specific antivirals against SADS-CoV, and our limited understanding of SADS-CoV host entry factors could hinder prompt responses to a potential human outbreak.

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Muco-obstructive lung diseases are typically associated with high risks of COVID-19 severity; however, allergic asthma showed reduced susceptibility. To investigate viral spread, primary human airway epithelial (HAE) cell cultures were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and host–virus interactions were examined via electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, RNA in situ hybridization, and gene expression analyses. In HAE cell cultures, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) expression governed cell tropism and viral load and was up-regulated by infection.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the expression of ACE2 in colonic tissues of Crohn's disease (CD) patients compared to non-inflammatory bowel disease (non-IBD) controls.
  • ACE2 was found to be significantly higher in a subset of CD patients, termed ACE2-high CD patients, who are at greater risk of needing surgery within five years of diagnosis.
  • This research suggests that increased ACE2 expression is linked to worse clinical outcomes in CD and highlights the potential for tailored treatment strategies based on ACE2 levels.
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Question: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterised by the accumulation of viscous adherent mucus in the lungs. While several hypotheses invoke a direct relationship with cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) dysfunction ( acidic airway surface liquid (ASL) pH, low bicarbonate (HCO ) concentration, airway dehydration), the dominant biochemical alteration of CF mucus remains unknown.

Materials/methods: We characterised a novel cell line (CFTR-KO Calu3 cells) and the responses of human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells from subjects with G551D or F508del mutations to ivacaftor and elexacaftor-tezacaftor-ivacaftor.

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Background And Aims: The host receptor for SARS-CoV-2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is highly expressed in small intestine. Our aim was to study colonic ACE2 expression in Crohn's disease (CD) and non-inflammatory bowel disease (non-IBD) controls. We hypothesized that the colonic expression levels of ACE2 impacts CD course.

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