Airway surface dehydration is a novel risk factor for allergic airway inflammation

Introduction: We have previously demonstrated that mice with airway specific overexpression of the amiloride-sensitive epithelial Na+ channel (βENaC-Tg) and mice lacking the epithelial Cl- channel SLC26A9 suffer from airway surface dehydration and airway mucus obstruction, which might be implicated in the pathogenesis of allergic airway disease (Anagnostopoulou et al., JCI 2012 and Mall et al., AmJRespirCritCare Med 2008). Here, we hypothesized that airway surface dehydration and reduced mucociliary clearance may increase the susceptibility for allergic airway inflammation. Methods: Aspergillus fumigatus extract…