Advances in Mucin Research

A special issue of Journal of Clinical Medicine (ISSN 2077-0383). This special issue belongs to the section "Immunology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2018)

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Health and Biomedical Sciences, Adventist University of Health Sciences, 671 Winyah Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, USA
Interests: structural genomics of infectious diseases; drug discovery
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Journal of Clinical Medicine (JCM) Editorial Team, we are delighted to present a new Special Issue on the topic of “Mucins”, Guest Edited by Dr. Christopher Campbell, from Adventist University of Health Sciences in Orlando, Florida.

Mucins are an important immunomodulatory component of the mucous membranes throughout the body. They are characterized by their large polymorphic central domain with tandem repeats rich in serine, threonine, and proline residues. They are the most abundant high molecular weight glycoprotein in mucus and prevent infection by vast numbers of microorganisms. Of the several immunological mechanisms in place to protect mucosal linings from their own microbiota, mucins of the mucous membrane aid in preventing translocation of bacteria to the underlying tissue. In recent years, research has highlighted the role these glycoproteins in cancer diagnosis and therapy. The secreted and transmembrane mucins have been previously found to be involved with inflammation and cancer. Additionally, mucins have demonstrated clinical significance in cystic fibrosis, asthma, and other muco-obstructive airway diseases. Consequently, mucins have been identified as potential therapeutic targets. This Special Issue aims to examine the advances in mucin research, and broaden our understanding of their role in human biology.

Dr. Christopher Campbell
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.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Clinical Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Mucosal Immunology
  • Mucus
  • Mucins
  • Inflammation
  • Therapeutics
  • Epithelium
  • Glycoconjugates
  • Oligosaccharides

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

9 pages, 992 KiB  
Communication
The Thomsen-Friedenreich Antigen: A Highly Sensitive and Specific Predictor of Microsatellite Instability in Gastric Cancer
by Stefan Mereiter, Karol Polom, Coralie Williams, Antonio Polonia, Mariana Guergova-Kuras, Niclas G. Karlsson, Franco Roviello, Ana Magalhães and Celso A. Reis
J. Clin. Med. 2018, 7(9), 256; https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm7090256 - 05 Sep 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6419
Abstract
Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a distinct molecular subtype of gastric cancer. In recent years, the clinical consequences of MSI and the therapeutic opportunities to target this peculiar cancer subtype became evident. However, despite the importance of MSI for the stratification of patients, the [...] Read more.
Microsatellite instability (MSI) is a distinct molecular subtype of gastric cancer. In recent years, the clinical consequences of MSI and the therapeutic opportunities to target this peculiar cancer subtype became evident. However, despite the importance of MSI for the stratification of patients, the time and resources required for diagnosis still present an obstacle. In an attempt to identify a new marker for MSI in gastric cancer, we evaluated the expression of five cancer-associated glycan epitopes in a cohort of 13 MSI and 17 microsatellite stable (MSS) cases. Our analysis revealed a highly significant (p < 0.001) association between the expression of the Thomsen-Friedenreich (TF) antigen and MSI status. Hence, we present here the identification of the first single marker for MSI in gastric cancer, excelling with a specificity of 94% (16/17), sensitivity of 69.2% (9/13), negative predictive value of 80% (16/20), and positive predictive value of 90% (9/10). The TF antigen, detected by simple antibody-based assays, is highly specific for carcinoma being undetectable in gastric healthy and premalignant epithelia. This finding lays the basis for new studies and holds promise in improving the rapid identification of MSI in the clinical setting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Mucin Research)
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