Project description:There is a life-long relationship between rhinovirus (RV) infection and the development and clinical manifestations of asthma. In this study we demonstrate that cultured primary bronchial epithelial cells from adults with asthma (n = 9) show different transcriptional and chromatin responses to RV infection compared to those without asthma (n = 9). Both the number and magnitude of transcriptional and chromatin responses to RV were muted in cells from asthma cases compared to controls. Pathway analysis of the transcriptionally responsive genes revealed enrichments of apoptotic pathways in controls but inflammatory pathways in asthma cases. Using promoter capture Hi-C we tethered regions of RV-responsive chromatin to RV-responsive genes and showed enrichment of these regions and genes at asthma GWAS loci. Taken together, our studies indicate a delayed or prolonged inflammatory state in cells from asthma cases and highlight genes that may contribute to genetic risk for asthma.
Project description:In the first decade of life, high-asthma risk urban children develop stable phenotypes of respiratory health versus disease that link early life environmental exposures to childhood allergic sensitization and asthma. Moreover, unique patterns of nasal gene expression demonstrate how specific molecular pathways underlie distinct respiratory phenotypes, including allergic and non-allergic asthma.
Project description:There is a life-long relationship between rhinovirus (RV) infection and the development and clinical manifestations of asthma. In this study we demonstrate that cultured primary bronchial epithelial cells from adults with asthma (n = 9) show different transcriptional and chromatin responses to RV infection compared to those without asthma (n = 9). Both the number and magnitude of transcriptional and chromatin responses to RV were muted in cells from asthma cases compared to controls. Pathway analysis of the transcriptionally responsive genes revealed enrichments of apoptotic pathways in controls but inflammatory pathways in asthma cases. Using promoter capture Hi-C we tethered regions of RV-responsive chromatin to RV-responsive genes and showed enrichment of these regions and genes at asthma GWAS loci. Taken together, our studies indicate a delayed or prolonged inflammatory state in cells from asthma cases and highlight genes that may contribute to genetic risk for asthma.
Project description:Asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease affecting over 300 million people around the world. Some asthma patients remain poorly controlled by conventional therapies and experience more life-threatening exacerbations. While patients with severe, refractory disease represent a heterogeneous group, a feature shared by most includes glucocorticoid insensitivity. We sought to characterize differences in the airway smooth muscle transcriptome response to glucocorticoids in fatal asthma vs. non-asthma donors. RNA-Seq was used to measure airway smooth muscle transcript expression differences between 9 donors with fatal asthma and 8 non-asthma donors. Cells from each donor were treated with budesonide or with vehicle control. Poly(A)-selected RNA-Seq libraries were prepared with the Illumina TruSeq method. An Illumina HiSeq 2500 instrument was used to generate 125 base pair paired-end reads.
Project description:RATIONALE: Developing a questionnaire that can be used to assess the quality of life among people who have a family member with cancer may help the study of cancer in the future.
PURPOSE: This clinical trial is studying quality of life among families with a member who is a cancer patient.
