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Asthma is the most common chronic lung disease in childhood. There has been a significant worldwide effort to develop tools/methods to identify children's risk for asthma as early as possible for preventative and early management strategies. Unfortunately, most childhood asthma prediction tools using conventional statistical models have modest accuracy, sensitivity, and positive predictive value.
In asthma, a significant portion of the interaction between genetics and environment occurs through microbiota. The proposed mechanisms behind this interaction are complex and at times contradictory. This review covers recent developments in our understanding of this interaction: the "microbial hypothesis" and the "farm effect"; the role of endotoxin and genetic variation in pattern recognition systems; the interaction with allergen exposure; the additional involvement of host gut and airway microbiota; the role of viral respiratory infections in interaction with the 17q21 and CDHR3 genetic loci; and the importance of in utero and early-life timing of exposures.
As the rise in prevalence of allergic diseases worldwide corresponds in time with increasing infant vaccination, it has been hypothesized that childhood vaccination may increase the risk of allergic disease. We aimed to synthesize the literature on the association between childhood vaccination and allergy.
COVID-19 is complicated by acute lung injury, and death in some individuals. It is caused by SARS-CoV-2 that requires the ACE2 receptor and serine proteases to enter AEC. We determined what factors are associated with ACE2 expression particularly in patients with asthma and COPD. We obtained lower AEC from 145 people from two independent cohorts, aged 2-89 years, Newcastle (n = 115) and Perth (n = 30), Australia. The Newcastle cohort was enriched with people with asthma (n = 37) and COPD (n = 38). Gene expression for ACE2 and other genes potentially associated with SARS-CoV-2 cell entry was assessed by qPCR, and protein expression was confirmed with immunohistochemistry on endobronchial biopsies and cultured AEC.
This article looks at the clinical implications of the research into microbial exposure & protection against asthma.
The purpose of this article is to highlight emerging evidence for existing allergy prevention guidelines regarding potential benefits of supporting early...
The airway epithelium of both children and adults with asthma is relatively undifferentiated characterized by a significantly increased proportion of...
This study evaluated the relationship between cat allergen–specific biomarkers in adults with cat allergy with and without cat ownership.
Asthma is more common in childhood than in adulthood and is more correctly thought of as a syndrome than as a discrete condition.
The pathogenesis of asthma continues to be a major topic of interest to our authors with reviews and original papers on the role of viruses, mechanisms of...