Effect of Polarized Release of CXC-Chemokines from Wild-Type and Cystic Fibrosis Murine Airway

The respiratory epithelium lining the airway relies on mucociliary clearance and a complex network of inflammatory mediators to protect the lung. Alterations in the composition and volume of the periciliary liquid layer, asoccur in cysticfibrosis (CF), leadto impaired mucociliary clearanceandpersistent airway infection.Moreover, the respiratory epithelium releases chemoattractants after infection, inciting airway inflammation. However, characterizing the inflam-matory response of primary human airway epithelial cells to in-fection can be challenging because of genetic heterogeneity. Using well-characterized, differentiated, primary murine tracheal cells grown at an air–liquid interface, which provides an in vitro polarized epithelial model, we compared inflammatory gene expression and secretion in wild-type and DF508 CF airway cells after infection with Pseudomonasaeruginosa. Theexpressionof severalCXC-chemokines, including macrophage inflammatory protein–2, small inducibl