Brandt EB, Biagini Myers JM, Acciani TH, Ryan PH, Sivaprasad U, Ruff B, LeMasters GK, Bernstein DI, Lockey JE, LeCras TD, Khurana Hershey GK. Exposure to allergen and diesel exhaust particles potentiates secondary allergen-specific memory responses promoting asthma susceptibility. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015 Aug;136(2):295-303.e7.
These findings suggest that DEP exposure results in accumulation of allergen-specific TH2/TH17 cells in the lungs, potentiating secondary allergen recall responses and promoting the development of allergic asthma.
Xiao C, Biagini Myers JM, Ji H, Metz K, Martin LJ, Lindsey M, He H, Powers R, Ulm A, Ruff B, Ericksen MB, Somineni HK, Simmons J, Strait RT, Kercsmar CM, Khurana Hershey GK. Vanin-1 Expression and Methylation Discriminate Pediatric Asthma Corticosteroid Treatment Response. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2015 Oct;136(4):923-31.e3.
This study identifies a biological basis for poor corticosteroid treatment response used to distinguish a subgroup of asthmatic children who respond poorly to systemic corticosteroid treatment. It concludes that VNN1 contributes to corticosteroid responsiveness, and changes in VNN1 nasal epithelial mRNA expression and VNN1 promoter methylation might be clinically useful biomarkers of treatment response in asthmatic children.
Butsch Kovacic M, Martin LJ, Biagini Myers JM, He H, Lindsey M, Mersha TB, Ji H, Khurana Hershey GK. Genetic Approach Identifies Distinct Asthma Pathways in Overweight vs. Normal Weight Children. Allergy. 2015 Aug;70(8):1028-32.
This study demonstrates that the underlying heterogeneity of asthma is likely due, in part, to distinct pathogenetic pathways that depend on preceding or comorbid overweight and/or allergy. It is therefore important to consider both obesity and asthma when conducting studies of asthma.
Somineni HK, Zhang X, Biagini Myers JM, Kovacic MB, Ulm A, Jurcak N, Ryan PH, Khurana Hershey GK, Ji H. TET1 methylation is associated with childhood asthma and traffic-related air pollution. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2016 Mar;137(3):797-805:e5.
In this study, we sought to examine the association of TET1 methylation with asthma and traffic-related air pollution (TRAP). Our findings suggest a possible role of TET1 methylation in asthmatic patients and response to TRAP.