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Sahin, A.T. ; Tepho, N. ; Ryan, A.* ; Nawroth, J.

Late Breaking Abstract - Obesity is associated with altered epithelial lipid storage and impaired mucociliary clearance of the human airways.

In:. Sheffield: European Respiratory Society, 2025.:PA4252 (Eur. Respir. J. ; 66)
DOI
Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
Obesity and overweight are linked to increased severity of asthma and respiratory microbial infections. The global level of obesity is rising and currently affects ~2.8 billion adults worldwide. Hence, to address growing medical needs, it is essential to understand why airway disease is promoted by excess weight. Based on a recent study showing dramatic metabolic shifts in the lungs of obese mice, we hypothesized that obesity and overweight may also promote metabolic changes in the human airways. Since motile cilia are highly metabolically active, we further hypotheized that such metabolic changes may impact mucociliary barrier function. To address these hypotheses, we measured intracellular lipid droplet accumulation and real-time mucociliary clearance (MCC) in airway explants of healthy human donors with body mass index (BMI) ranging from the normal to the obese range. Consistent with our hypotheses, we found that lipid droplet deposition in epithelial cells was positively correlated with BMI (see Figure 1), wheras MCC was negatively correlated with BMI, reaching significantly different distributions between normalweight and overweight/obese donors. Our results suggest that excess weight may alter airway metabolism and impair barrier function, potentially reducing defense against disease-causing agents, which we are exploring in ongoing work.
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Publication type Article: Conference contribution
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0903-1936
e-ISSN 1399-3003
Journal European Respiratory Journal
Quellenangaben Volume: 66, Issue: , Pages: , Article Number: PA4252, Supplement: 69
Publisher European Respiratory Society
Publishing Place Sheffield
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Helmholtz Pioneer Campus (HPC)