People with cystic fibrosis often have abnormally acidic airway surface liquid, and a team of researchers at the University of Saskatchewan believes they have figured out why.

One of two lead researchers, Dr. Julian Tam, says his team has been studying a newly identified and rare cell called a pulmonary ionocyte. These cells are very rare, comprising of less than one per cent of all of the cells in human airways. Tam and his team were able to study the rare cell on a single cell level at USask. “What we found is that this cell is responsible for regulating the pH, or acidity, of airways,” he explains. “Not so much that these ionocytes are acidic perse, but their role is to help control acidity in airways.” He adds that the cells also express CFTR, the protein that is problematic in cystic fibrosis patients at very high levels.

Tam hopes the team’s research can facilitate the development of effective gene therapies to correct this. “For gene therapies, if we were to correct the ionocytes, we can expect that that would lead to the correction of the airway acidity issue.” The team’s research is ongoing, and next they hope to understand the reason and function behind the cell’s distribution, as it does not appear to be random.