New PAR-2 paper now online

A study done by Ryan Carey, Jenna Freund, and Ben Hariri from the lab is now online at Journal of Biological Chemistry.  In it, we show that changes in epithelial composition during deciliation driven by type 2 inflammation, cigarette smoke exposure, or retinoic acid deficiency result in altered polarization of PAR-2 receptor signaling.  Normally, the receptor resides on the basolateral side of the membrane in polarized ciliated cells.  When these cells are replaced with squamous cells, PAR-2 signaling from the apical membrane of these cells may enhance inflammatory responses to inhaled proteases produced by fungi, dust mites, or other organisms.  This may contribute to the pathophysiology of inflammatory airway diseases, many of which are characterized by alterations of airway cell composition and loss of airway cilia.