Mechanisms and consequences of airway epithelial nucleotide release

Speaker: Eduardo Lazarowski, Research Associate Professor and Director of Nucleotide Measurement Core laboratory, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Dr. Lazarowski studies the molecular basis of nucleotide release. Extracellular nucleotides and nucleosides regulate the mucociliary clearance (MCC) process that removes noxious materials from the airways. Nucleotide actions in the airways are mediated by several G protein-coupled purinergic receptors, mainly the ATP/UTP-sensing P2Y₂ receptor and the A_2B adenosine receptor. By developing enzymatic- and HPLC-based assays that accurately quantify adenine and uridine nucleotides, the Lazarowski lab has played an important role in defining the contribution of purinergic receptors to MCC responses initiated by the release of ATP and UTP into the airway surface liquid. His studies are of particular relevance to (patho)physiological processes in chronic lung inflammation such as cystic fibrosis. Another area of interest in the Lazarowski’s lab is on defining the functional properties of the neutrophil P2Y14 receptor and to determine the pathophysiological consequences of UDP-sugar release in the lung.