Genetic association of ADAM33 polymorphisms with childhood asthma in Chinese Han population: A case-control study

The Genetic Factors of the Airway Epithelium Associated with the Pathology of Asthma

Asthma is a chronic disease of the airways characterized by inflammation, tightened muscles, and thickened airway walls leading to symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest tightness, and cough in patients. The increased risk of asthma in children of asthmatics parents supports the existence of genetic factors involved in the pathogenesis of this disease. Genome-wide association studies have discovered several single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with asthma. These polymorphisms occur within several genes and can contribute to different asthma phenotypes, affect disease severity, and clinical response to different therapies. The complexity in the etiology of asthma also results from interactions between environmental and genetic factors. Environmental exposures have been shown to increase the prevalence of asthma in individuals who are genetically susceptible. This review summarizes what is currently known about the genetics of asthma in relation to risk, response to common treatments, and gene-environmental interactions.

ADAM33 Silencing Inhibits Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Migration and Regulates Cytokine Secretion in Airway Vascular Remodeling via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR Pathway

Introduction. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are highly involved in airway vascular remodeling in asthma. Objectives. This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase-33 (ADAM33) gene on the migration capacity and inflammatory cytokine secretion of VSMCs. Methods. Human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) were transfected with lentiviral vectors carrying short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting ADAM33 or negative control vectors. The migration capacity of HASMCs was evaluated by a transwell assay. The levels of secreted inflammatory cytokines were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot assays were performed to detect mRNA and protein expression levels. Results. Silencing of ADAM33 significantly inhibited the migration of HASMCs. The expression of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in the supernatant of HASMCs was decreased, while that of interferon gamma (IFN-γ) was increased after the transfection of shRNA targeting ADAM33. Insufficient ADAM33 expression also suppressed the expression levels of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K), phospho-protein kinase B (AKT), phospho-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), Rho-associated protein kinases, phospho-forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1), and cyclin D1, but it did not affect the levels of AKT, mTOR, or Rho. Conclusion. Silencing of the ADAM33 gene inhibited HASMC migration and regulated inflammatory cytokine secretion via targeting the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and its downstream signaling. These data contribute to a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of airway vascular remodeling in asthma.

Multiplex-Heterogeneous Network-Based Capturing Potential SNP "Switches" of Pathways Associating With Diverse Disease Characteristics of Asthma

Asthma is a complex heterogeneous respiratory disorder. In recent years nubbly regions of the role of genetic variants and transcriptome including mRNAs, microRNAs, and long non-coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of asthma have been separately excavated and reported. However, how to systematically integrate and decode this scattered information remains unclear. Further exploration would improve understanding of the internal communication of asthma. To excavate new insights into the pathogenesis of asthma, we ascertained three asthma characteristics according to reviews, airway inflammation, airway hyperresponsiveness, and airway remodeling. We manually created a contemporary catalog of corresponding risk transcriptome, including mRNAs, miRNAs, and lncRNAs. MIMP is a multiplex-heterogeneous networks-based approach, measuring the relevance of disease characteristics to the pathway by examining the similarity between the determined vectors of risk transcriptome and pathways in the same low-dimensional vector space. It was developed to enable a more concentrated and in-depth exploration of potential pathways. We integrated experimentally validated competing endogenous RNA regulatory information and the SNPs with significant pathways into the ceRNA-mediated SNP switching pathway network (CSSPN) to analyze ceRNA regulation of pathways and the role of SNP in these dysfunctions. We discovered 11 crucial ceRNA regulations concerning asthma disease feature pathway and propose a potential mechanism of ceRNA regulatory SNP → gene → pathway → disease feature effecting asthma pathogenesis, especially for MALAT1 (rs765499057/rs764699354/rs189435941) → hsa-miR-155 → IL13 (rs201185816/rs1000978586/rs202101165) → Interleukin-4 and Interleukin-13 signaling → inflammation/airway remodeling and MALAT1 (rs765499057/rs764699354/rs189435941) → hsa-miR-155 → IL17RB (rs948046241) → Interleukin-17 signaling (airway remodeling)/Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction (inflammation). This study showed a systematic and propagable workflow for capturing the potential SNP “switch” of asthma through text and database mining and provides further information on the pathogenesis of asthma.

Current Knowledge of Asthma-COPD Overlap (ACO) Genetic Risk Factors, Characteristics, and Prognosis

Asthma-COPD overlap (ACO) is a newly identified phenotype of chronic obstructive airway diseases with shared asthma and COPD features. Patients with ACO are poorly defined, and some evidence suggests that they have worse health outcomes and greater disease burden than patients with COPD or asthma. Generally, there is no evidence-based and universal definition for ACO; several consensus documents have provided various descriptions of the phenotype. In addition, the mechanisms underlying the development of ACO are not fully understood. Whether ACO is a distinct clinical entity with its particular discrete genetic determinant different from asthma and COPD alone or an intermediate phenotype with overlapping genetic markers within asthma and COPD spectrum of obstructive airway disease remains unproven. This review summarizes the current knowledge of the genetic risk factors, characteristics, and prognosis of ACO.