Asthma affects over 17 million people in the United States. Nearly one-half of patients do not respond to treatment with the most effective classes of currently available asthma therapeutics. In order to develop novel therapies, a comprehensive catalog of modifiable genetic targets and their metabolic pathways that contribute to the development and progression of asthma is needed. Genomic technologies including expression microarrays and high-throughput genotyping platforms offer an unprecedented opportunity to advance this process. The overarching premise of this project is that combining gene expression data with population genetics will lead to the identification of critical molecules that contribute to the development and progression of asthma. We will generate genome-wide gene expression profiles from total RNA derived from peripheral blood CD4+ lymphocytes from 370 young adults with asthma of varying severity participating in the Childhood Asthma Management Program Continuation Study (CAMP CS2) to identify differentially expressed gene transcripts that are associated with asthma severity phenotypes. Using DNA samples from these subjects and their parents, we will then genotype single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to 200 of the most differentially expressed genes and perform family-based genotype-gene-expression association analysis to identify regulatory SNPs (rSNP) that strongly regulate gene expression. Those genes with the strongest evidence of rSNP regulation will be evaluated as asthma candidate genes evaluating whether SNPs in these genes are associated with asthma-related clinical phenotypes. Using this approach we anticipate that we will identify at least 20 genes with significant evidence of cis-acting regulatory genetic variation and that many of these genes will also harbor genetic variation that directly influence asthma susceptibility and severity. Genes with the strongest evidence of association will be evaluated in other family- based asthma cohorts for evidence of replicated association and will be resequenced as part of a SNP- discovery effort to identify functional polymorphisms. We anticipate that by combining gene expression data with population genetics, this project will identify novel genes that harbor genetic variation that influence the natural history of asthma, thereby identifying ideal asthma-candidate genes for possible therapeutic targeting. These findings could ultimately lead to the development of novel therapies and a clinical prognostic test for this common disease. ? ? ? ?

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL086601-02
Application #
7386759
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-HOP-W (04))
Program Officer
Banks-Schlegel, Susan P
Project Start
2007-03-10
Project End
2011-02-28
Budget Start
2008-03-01
Budget End
2009-02-28
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2008
Total Cost
$812,017
Indirect Cost
Name
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Department
Type
DUNS #
030811269
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02115
Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Chen, Zhanghua; Barnes, Kathleen C et al. (2018) Gene Coexpression Networks in Whole Blood Implicate Multiple Interrelated Molecular Pathways in Obesity in People with Asthma. Obesity (Silver Spring) 26:1938-1948
Kothari, Parul H; Qiu, Weiliang; Croteau-Chonka, Damien C et al. (2018) Role of local CpG DNA methylation in mediating the 17q21 asthma susceptibility gasdermin B (GSDMB)/ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 3 (ORMDL3) expression quantitative trait locus. J Allergy Clin Immunol 141:2282-2286.e6
Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Raby, Benjamin A (2018) TREM-1 Response Signatures Common to Expression Profiles of Both Asthma Affection and Asthma Control. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 198:401-404
Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Qiu, Weiliang; Martinez, Fernando D et al. (2017) Gene Expression Profiling in Blood Provides Reproducible Molecular Insights into Asthma Control. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 195:179-188
Howrylak, Judie A; Moll, Matthew; Weiss, Scott T et al. (2016) Gene expression profiling of asthma phenotypes demonstrates molecular signatures of atopy and asthma control. J Allergy Clin Immunol 137:1390-1397.e6
Brehm, John M; Man Tse, Sze; Croteau-Chonka, Damien C et al. (2015) A Genome-Wide Association Study of Post-bronchodilator Lung Function in Children with Asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 192:634-7
Castaldi, Peter J; Cho, Michael H; Zhou, Xiaobo et al. (2015) Genetic control of gene expression at novel and established chronic obstructive pulmonary disease loci. Hum Mol Genet 24:1200-10
Brehm, John M; Ramratnam, Sima K; Tse, Sze Man et al. (2015) Stress and Bronchodilator Response in Children with Asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 192:47-56
McGeachie, Michael J; Wu, Ann C; Tse, Sze Man et al. (2015) CTNNA3 and SEMA3D: Promising loci for asthma exacerbation identified through multiple genome-wide association studies. J Allergy Clin Immunol 136:1503-1510
Croteau-Chonka, Damien C; Rogers, Angela J; Raj, Towfique et al. (2015) Expression Quantitative Trait Loci Information Improves Predictive Modeling of Disease Relevance of Non-Coding Genetic Variation. PLoS One 10:e0140758

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