Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.

Management of severe asthma remains a challenge despite treatment with glucocorticosteroid therapy. The majority of studies investigating disease mechanisms in treatment-resistant severe asthma have previously focused on the large central airways, with very few utilizing transcriptomic approaches. T...

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Main Authors: Akul Singhania, Hitasha Rupani, Nivenka Jayasekera, Simon Lumb, Paul Hales, Neil Gozzard, Donna E Davies, Christopher H Woelk, Peter H Howarth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168680&type=printable
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author Akul Singhania
Hitasha Rupani
Nivenka Jayasekera
Simon Lumb
Paul Hales
Neil Gozzard
Donna E Davies
Christopher H Woelk
Peter H Howarth
author_facet Akul Singhania
Hitasha Rupani
Nivenka Jayasekera
Simon Lumb
Paul Hales
Neil Gozzard
Donna E Davies
Christopher H Woelk
Peter H Howarth
author_sort Akul Singhania
collection DOAJ
description Management of severe asthma remains a challenge despite treatment with glucocorticosteroid therapy. The majority of studies investigating disease mechanisms in treatment-resistant severe asthma have previously focused on the large central airways, with very few utilizing transcriptomic approaches. The small peripheral airways, which comprise the majority of the airway surface area, remain an unexplored area in severe asthma and were targeted for global epithelial gene expression profiling in this study. Differences between central and peripheral airways were evaluated using transcriptomic analysis (Affymetrix HG U133 plus 2.0 GeneChips) of epithelial brushings obtained from severe asthma patients (N = 17) and healthy volunteers (N = 23). Results were validated in an independent cohort (N = 10) by real-time quantitative PCR. The IL-13 disease signature that is associated with an asthmatic phenotype was upregulated in severe asthmatics compared to healthy controls but was predominantly evident within the peripheral airways, as were genes related to mast cell presence. The gene expression response associated with glucocorticosteroid therapy (i.e. FKBP5) was also upregulated in severe asthmatics compared to healthy controls but, in contrast, was more pronounced in central airways. Moreover, an altered epithelial repair response (e.g. FGFBP1) was evident across both airway sites reflecting a significant aspect of disease in severe asthma unadressed by current therapies. A transcriptomic approach to understand epithelial activation in severe asthma has thus highlighted the need for better-targeted therapy to the peripheral airways in severe asthma, where the IL-13 disease signature persists despite treatment with currently available therapy.
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spelling doaj-art-dfeb7c410dfd43f6b476ae9e263705dc2025-08-20T03:24:29ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01121e016868010.1371/journal.pone.0168680Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.Akul SinghaniaHitasha RupaniNivenka JayasekeraSimon LumbPaul HalesNeil GozzardDonna E DaviesChristopher H WoelkPeter H HowarthManagement of severe asthma remains a challenge despite treatment with glucocorticosteroid therapy. The majority of studies investigating disease mechanisms in treatment-resistant severe asthma have previously focused on the large central airways, with very few utilizing transcriptomic approaches. The small peripheral airways, which comprise the majority of the airway surface area, remain an unexplored area in severe asthma and were targeted for global epithelial gene expression profiling in this study. Differences between central and peripheral airways were evaluated using transcriptomic analysis (Affymetrix HG U133 plus 2.0 GeneChips) of epithelial brushings obtained from severe asthma patients (N = 17) and healthy volunteers (N = 23). Results were validated in an independent cohort (N = 10) by real-time quantitative PCR. The IL-13 disease signature that is associated with an asthmatic phenotype was upregulated in severe asthmatics compared to healthy controls but was predominantly evident within the peripheral airways, as were genes related to mast cell presence. The gene expression response associated with glucocorticosteroid therapy (i.e. FKBP5) was also upregulated in severe asthmatics compared to healthy controls but, in contrast, was more pronounced in central airways. Moreover, an altered epithelial repair response (e.g. FGFBP1) was evident across both airway sites reflecting a significant aspect of disease in severe asthma unadressed by current therapies. A transcriptomic approach to understand epithelial activation in severe asthma has thus highlighted the need for better-targeted therapy to the peripheral airways in severe asthma, where the IL-13 disease signature persists despite treatment with currently available therapy.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168680&type=printable
spellingShingle Akul Singhania
Hitasha Rupani
Nivenka Jayasekera
Simon Lumb
Paul Hales
Neil Gozzard
Donna E Davies
Christopher H Woelk
Peter H Howarth
Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.
PLoS ONE
title Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.
title_full Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.
title_fullStr Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.
title_full_unstemmed Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.
title_short Altered Epithelial Gene Expression in Peripheral Airways of Severe Asthma.
title_sort altered epithelial gene expression in peripheral airways of severe asthma
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0168680&type=printable
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