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Epigenetics and childhood asthma: current evidence and future research directions.

ABSTRACT: Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting one in eight children in the USA and worldwide. It is a complex disease, influenced by both environmental exposures and genetic factors. Although epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation, histone modification and miRNA) can affect transcriptional activity in multiple genetic pathways relevant for asthma development, very limited work has been carried out so far to examine the role of epigenetic variations on asthma development and management. This review provides a brief overview of epigenetic modifications, summarizes recent findings, and discusses some of the major methodological concerns that are relevant for asthma epigenetics.

SUBMITTER: Salam MT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3458510 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Epigenetics and childhood asthma: current evidence and future research directions.

Salam Muhammad T MT Zhang Ying Y Begum Kohinoor K

Epigenomics 20120801 4

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood, affecting one in eight children in the USA and worldwide. It is a complex disease, influenced by both environmental exposures and genetic factors. Although epigenetic modifications (DNA methylation, histone modification and miRNA) can affect transcriptional activity in multiple genetic pathways relevant for asthma development, very limited work has been carried out so far to examine the role of epigenetic variations on asthma development an ...[more]

PMID: 22920181

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Project description:ObjectivesWhile various clinical and pharmacological determinants for chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment have been identified, conflicting evidence suggests that cytokines might play an intermediary role. The objective of this systematic review was to evaluate the current evidence pertaining to the associations among chemotherapy, cytokines induction and cognitive impairment in cancer patients.MethodsA literature search with PubMed and SciVerse Scopus was conducted in March 2013 to gather relevant articles and abstracts that fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria. This review included studies that had performed objective and/or subjective cognitive assessments and cytokine measurements on defined populations of cancer patients who received chemotherapy.ResultsHigh methodological heterogeneity existed among the selected studies which differed in cancer populations, subject characteristics, cognitive endpoints, types of cytokines tested and their measurement methods. Weak to moderate correlations were observed between IL-1?, IL-6, TNF-? levels, and different degrees of cognitive impairment. Different types of chemotherapy treatments might lead to varying presentations and severities of cytokine-induced cognitive impairment. Notably, the time concordance between the onset of cytokine induction and occurrence of cognitive impairment was not well elucidated. A number of confounding factors was identified to interfere with the expression levels of cytokines; these confounders included subjects' cancer types, ages, genders, genetics and psychosocial characteristics such as anxiety, depression and fatigue.ConclusionAlthough existing studies observed cognitive impairment and cytokine dysregulation in patients who receive chemotherapy, our results suggest that the intermediary role of cytokines in post-chemotherapy cognitive impairment is still controversial and requires further evaluation. A list of methodological recommendations is proposed to harmonize future studies of this subject matter.

Dataset Information

Epigenetics and childhood asthma: current evidence and future research directions.

Publications

Epigenetics and childhood asthma: current evidence and future research directions.

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