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Most airway mucus is produced by submucosal glands in response to neural signals. Gland mucus traps microbes, inhibits their replication, and clears them from the airways. In cystic fibrosis mucus clearance is compromised, allowing pathogens to persist in static mucus. These trigger an influx of inflammatory cells, but optimal effectiveness of inflammation, and especially its resolution, also requires effective mucus clearance. Our objective is to understand the basis for defective mucus clearance in cystic fibrosis. We discovered that in subjects with cystic fibrosis, submucosal gland secretion in response to agents that elevate intracellular cyclic AMP level is completely lost and mucus stimulated by elevating intracellular Ca²⁺ level is thicker. We hypothesize that loss of functional cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator from gland serous cells renders them unable to secrete anions and fluid in response …