The bitter end: T2R bitter receptor agonists elevate nuclear calcium and induce apoptosis in non-ciliated airway epithelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) localize to airway motile cilia and initiate innate immune responses in retaliation to bacterial quorum sensing molecules. Activation of cilia T2Rs leads to calcium-driven NO production that increases cilia beating and directly kills bacteria. Several diseases, including chronic rhinosinusitis, COPD, and cystic fibrosis, are characterized by loss of motile cilia and/or squamous metaplasia. To understand T2R function within the altered landscape of airway disease, we studied T2Rs in non-ciliated airway cell lines and primary cells. Several T2Rs localize to the nucleus in de-differentiated cells that typically localize to cilia in differentiated cells. As cilia and nuclear import utilize shared proteins, some T2Rs may target to the nucleus in the absence of moti

SUBMITTER: McMahon DB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8752513 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature