A team at University Medical Center Utrecht has developed a rapid and quantitative in vitro intestinal cell-based assay for CFTR function that could help prospectively identify responders to targeted cystic fibrosis therapies.¹ The researchers are now planning to test how well the approach can predict drug responses in the clinic. 

Cystic fibrosis is caused by inherited mutations that reduce the function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), an anion channel that helps keep the lung and intestinal epithelium hydrated and prevents the mucus buildup that leads to airway obstruction and infection.