The Genetics of Environmental Asthma

In this project, we hypothesize that polymorphisms of genes expressed by the airway epithelia in asthmatics following specific airway challenges predispose individuals to the development of asthma. To test this hypothesis, we identify the genes that are differentially expressed by airway epithelial cells following challenge with stimuli that induce acquired (house dust mite) or innate (LPS) immune responses, and then determine whether polymorphisms in these genes are associated with the development of asthma in a separate, well characterized, familial cohort of asthmatics. This is a powerful approach that is designed to identify novel genes that are associated with both asthma pathogenesis (differentially expressed in the exposure-response study) and asthma susceptibility (genetically associated with asthma in a linkage/association study).