Abstract: Mucins and isoforms thereof are provided herein for use in the diagnosis, monitoring, prevention, and/or treatment of a disease characterized by barrier dysfunction, such as, but not limited to a gastrointestinal disorder (e.g. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), cancer, gastrointestinal infections, obesitas, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)), neurodegenerative disorders, respiratory infections, and more in particular coronaviral infections. In a specific embodiment, said mucins and/or isoforms thereof are selected from the list comprising: MUC16, MUC21, MUC20, MUC2, MUC4, MUC5AC, MUC5B, MUC13, and MUC1, and isoforms thereof.

Abstract: An in vitro method is provided for determining the severity and/or prognosis of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in a subject, based on the expression of one or more mucin genes in respiratory epithelial cells. The respiratory epithelial cells can be isolated from a biological sample of a subject, or they can be cultured in vitro and exposed to a biological sample of the subject.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of mucin isoforms, more in particular for use in the diagnosis, monitoring, prevention and/or treatment of a disease characterized by barrier dysfunction, such as but not limited to a gastrointestinal disorder (e.g. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), cancer, gastro-intestinal infections, obesitas, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)), neurodegenerative disorders, respiratory infections, . . . In a specific embodiment, said mucin isoform is selected from the list comprising: MUC1 isoforms and MUC13 isoforms.