{"id":752,"date":"2023-12-08T09:41:33","date_gmt":"2023-12-08T09:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annualreports.healthsciences.arizona.edu\/?post_type=story&p=752"},"modified":"2023-12-14T21:23:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T21:23:21","slug":"predicting-asthma-risk-to-bypass-disease-development","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/annualreports.healthsciences.arizona.edu\/2023\/story\/predicting-asthma-risk-to-bypass-disease-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting asthma risk to bypass disease development"},"content":{"rendered":"

The team is one step closer to developing a predictive test to assess a baby\u2019s risk for asthma, an inflammatory disorder in which the airways narrow as they become inflamed, making it difficult to breathe.<\/p>\n

The test would allow parents to take steps to thwart the disease\u2019s development and could guide doctors to prescribe preventive treatments. The research was published in Frontiers in Immunobiology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first 1,000 days of life shape how the immune system develops in response to the outside world,\u201d said Anthony Bosco, PhD<\/strong>, associate professor of immunobiology in the UArizona College of Medicine \u2013 Tucson<\/a> and associate research scientist with the UArizona Health Sciences Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s a window of opportunity to go in there with interventions that can strengthen the immune system and reduce the risk of asthma.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosco and James Read<\/strong>, a data scientist with the Department of Immunobiology<\/a> and the Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center, studied 50 babies at high risk for asthma and found that those who went on to develop asthma exhibited an exaggerated inflammatory response after being exposed to certain pathogenic, or disease-causing, bacteria.<\/p>\n

Investigators studied the unusually intense immune response and identified a likely driver: a network controlled by a gene called Interferon Regulatory Factor 1 or IRF1.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internet is a bunch of information that\u2019s connected through web links. Gene networks work in much the same way,\u201d Bosco said. \u201cIf gene A interacts with gene B, we connect it with a link, constructing a \u2018wiring diagram\u2019 of hundreds of genes that control the immune response.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers saw that the \u201cwiring\u201d of the IRF1 gene network in children who develop asthma is different than in children who do not develop asthma.<\/p>\n

They believe that conditioning the body to pathogenic bacteria at an early age could \u201creprogram\u201d the immune systems in asthma-prone children to respond more appropriately to asthma-attack triggers, such as fungi, dust mites and viral infections.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research suggests you can minimize asthma risk by treating the immune system in a way that avoids this excessive inflammatory response,\u201d Bosco said. \u201cOur long-term goal is to roll out a predictive test at scale, start testing babies to predict their risk, and put them on therapies that promote a healthy immune system.\u201d<\/p>\n

The investigators believe training a baby\u2019s immune system through exposure to certain microbes may be the key to reducing their risk of developing asthma. They are hopeful that at-risk babies can overcome their genetic predisposition to asthma through controlled exposure to bacterial extracts that have been weakened to make them safe to administer to babies and young children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your exposure to bacteria happens early on and you develop a healthy microbiome, the way your immune system responds to pathogens will be more fine-tuned,\u201d Bosco said. The microbiome is the community of bacteria and other microbes that take up residence in the body, where they mostly live in symbiosis.<\/p>\n

The investigators believe they can potentially bypass the need for lifelong asthma medications by giving at-risk children microbial products that can train the immune system. Microbial products are already being studied for their ability to reduce asthma risk, including at the Asthma and Airways Disease Research Center, where Fernando Martinez, MD<\/strong>, is principal investigator of the ORBEX<\/a> trial to measure the efficacy of bacterial extracts in preventing asthma-like symptoms.<\/p>\n

In addition to using microbial products, Read says a test revealing babies\u2019 faulty genetic wiring can motivate parents to make healthier choices for their children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":743,"parent":0,"template":"","college":[],"uahs_theme":[15],"class_list":["post-752","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","uahs_theme-creating-defenses-against-disease"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPredicting asthma risk to bypass disease development - University of Arizona Health Sciences Annual Impact Report 2024<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/annualreports.healthsciences.arizona.edu\/2023\/story\/predicting-asthma-risk-to-bypass-disease-development\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Predicting asthma risk to bypass disease development - University of Arizona Health Sciences Annual Impact Report 2024\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The team is one step closer to developing a predictive test to assess a baby\u2019s risk for asthma, an inflammatory disorder in which the airways narrow as they become inflamed, making it difficult to breathe. 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