Exploring intrinsic variability between cultured nasal and bronchial epithelia in cystic fibrosis

The nasal and bronchial epithelium are unified parts of the respiratory tract that are affected in the monogenic disorder cystic fibrosis (CF). Recent studies have uncovered that nasal and bronchial tissues exhibit intrinsic variability, including differences in mucociliary cell composition and expression of unique transcriptional regulatory proteins which relate to germ layer origin. In the present study, we explored transcriptomic differences between cultured nasal and bronchial epithelial cells from people with CF. Comparison of air-liquid interface-differentiated epithelial cells from subjects with CF revealed distinct mucociliary differentiation states of nasal and bronchial cultures. Moreover, using RNA sequencing we identified cell type-specific signature transcription factors in differentiated nasal and bronchial epithelial cells. Comparative gene expression analysis of RNA-seq data for paired nasal and bronchial epithelial cells from 5 donors with CF. RNA was obtained from ALI-differentiated epithelial cells. ****Submitter declares that, due to GDPR, only de-identified transcriptomic data (raw counts) can be provided***