Fig. 6.

Model of HK2 expression changes in relation to intestinal inflammation severity. HK2 is predominantly expressed by apical epithelial cells and HK2 expression in these cells increases with disease severity. However, during the course of inflammation, the cellular composition of the mucosa changes. In severely inflamed tissue, the epithelium is disrupted, brush border epithelial cells with high levels of HK2 are shed and lost, whereas immune cells with little to no HK2 expression are recruited. Therefore, overall HK2 expression is reduced in bulk tissue samples under severe inflammation despite local high expression in remaining HK2-positive epithelial cells. Created with BioRender.com