Childhood asthma, particularly in urban environments, is a source of significant morbidity. Children spend the majority of their day in school. The immediate goal of this project is to determine the role of changes in school-specific environmental exposures and genetic factors and asthma morbidity. The Candidate/PI is a board-certified allergist/immunologist with a MS in clinical epidemiology and runs a NIH funded asthma/allergy clinical research center. She has expertise in patient-oriented clinical research and mentoring. Her environment includes unparalleled community relationships, infrastructure, resources, and collaborators. Career Development Goals are to ensure that the candidate will be provided sufficient time for mentoring and patient oriented clinical research activities. The award will also allow her to further her education in statistical methods, study design, and gene-environment interactions to help her expand her patient oriented research program. This will allow us to move towards our overall goal of further our understanding of epigenetic/environmental interactions to design and implement more effective school focused interventions to reduce the severity and incidence of childhood asthma. The research hypothesis is that changes in classroom/school specific allergen/mold exposure levels will be associated with epigenetic changes in methylation, airway inflammation, and asthma symptoms. We will compare our methylation markers on selected genes potentially important in asthma with changes in the classroom-specific allergen/mold exposure and asthma health outcomes. We will also compare these results in a subset of age/gender matched students without asthma as controls attending the same classrooms to further the interpretation of our findings. The impact of this research may result in novel biomarkers that could inform us about the efficacy of school-based interventions against environmental exposures important to childhood asthma and its immune modulation, addressing a critical public health problem. Public Health Relevance:
We aim to determine the role of changes in school-specific environmental exposures and genetic/epigenetic factors and asthma morbidity. By furthering our understanding of mechanisms behind modifiable epigenetic/environmental risk factors, we may be able to design and implement more cost and time efficient school-based environmental interventions that may potentially help a community of children with asthma, allergic diseases, and its associated morbidity.
We aim to determine the role of changes in school-specific environmental exposures and genetic/epigenetic factors and asthma morbidity. By furthering our understanding of mechanisms behind modifiable epigenetic/environmental risk factors, we may be able to design and implement more cost and time efficient school-based environmental interventions that may potentially help a community of children with asthma, allergic diseases, and its associated morbidity.
Naja, Ahmad Salaheddine; Permaul, Perdita; Phipatanakul, Wanda (2018) Taming Asthma in School-Aged Children: A Comprehensive Review. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract 6:726-735 |
Esty, Brittany; Phipatanakul, Wanda (2018) School exposure and asthma. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol 120:482-487 |
Kantor, David B; Phipatanakul, Wanda; Hirschhorn, Joel N (2018) Gene-Environment Interactions Associated with the Severity of Acute Asthma Exacerbation in Children. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 197:545-547 |
Cardet, Juan Carlos; Louisias, Margee; King, Tonya S et al. (2018) Income is an independent risk factor for worse asthma outcomes. J Allergy Clin Immunol 141:754-760.e3 |
Louisias, Margee; Wright, Lakiea; Phipatanakul, Wanda (2018) Asthma in the melting pot. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol : |
Kantor, David B; Hirshberg, Eliotte L; McDonald, Molly C et al. (2018) Fluid Balance Is Associated with Clinical Outcomes and Extravascular Lung Water in Children with Acute Asthma Exacerbation. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 197:1128-1135 |
Morris, Claudia R; Mauger, David T; Suh, Jung H et al. (2018) Glutathione and arginine levels: Predictors for acetaminophen-associated asthma exacerbation? J Allergy Clin Immunol 142:308-311.e9 |
Gaffin, Jonathan M; Hauptman, Marissa; Petty, Carter R et al. (2018) Nitrogen dioxide exposure in school classrooms of inner-city children with asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol 141:2249-2255.e2 |
Kahn, Peter A; Trivedi, Michelle; Ramadan, Amira A et al. (2018) A Community-Based Pilot Survey of Pediatric Food Allergies in a Maryland Orthodox Jewish Community. Clin Pediatr (Phila) 57:1236-1238 |
Kantor, David B; Petty, Carter R; Phipatanakul, Wanda et al. (2018) Transcutaneous CO-oximetry differentiates asthma exacerbation and convalescence in children. J Allergy Clin Immunol 142:676-678.e5 |
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