Dear Colleagues,

Respiratory mucus is produced by the lining mucosal epithelium and is believed to serve as the first line of defense against various chemicals and particles entering the respiratory tract. While the mucus layer is crucial for host defense, excessive production leads to pathology, including airway obstruction, manifested in various chronic inflammatory diseases. The major components of mucus are glycoproteins called mucins, with large molecular weights, due to heavy glycosylation. There are two types of mucins—(a) gel-forming or secreted mucins that constitute the majority of mucins in the mucus layer and confer the viscoelastic property of the mucus; and (b) membrane-tethered mucins that are present on the apical surface of the respiratory epithelium. Twenty-one mucin genes have been identified in humans, and 14 of them in the respiratory tract. Why there are so many mucin genes (proteins) expressed in the respiratory tract, and what the roles of these mucins in health and disease are, remain still largely unknown. In this Special Issue, we will review the current status of our understanding of the roles of respiratory mucins in health and disease.

Prof. Dr. Kwang Chul Kim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

• Airway
• Respiratory
• Inflammation
• Mucus
• Mucin
• MUC1
• MUC8
• MUC5AC
• MUC5B
• MUC18