Publications by authors named "Ana Fairbanks-Mahnke"
By incompletely understood mechanisms, type 2 (T2) inflammation present in the airways of severe asthmatics drives the formation of pathologic mucus which leads to airway mucus plugging. Here we investigate the molecular role and clinical significance of intelectin-1 (ITLN-1) in the development of pathologic airway mucus in asthma. Through analyses of human airway epithelial cells we find that ITLN1 gene expression is highly induced by interleukin-13 (IL-13) in a subset of metaplastic MUC5AC mucus secretory cells, and that ITLN-1 protein is a secreted component of IL-13-induced mucus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEpidemiologic studies demonstrate an association between early-life respiratory illnesses (RIs) and the development of childhood asthma. However, it remains uncertain whether these children are predisposed to both conditions or if early-life RIs induce alterations in airway function, immune responses, or other human biology that contribute to the development of asthma. Puerto Rican children experience a disproportionate burden of early-life RIs and asthma, making them an important population for investigating this complex interplay.
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- The study aimed to assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection in households with children, specifically focusing on whether asthma and other allergic conditions influence infection rates and household transmission.
- Over a 6-month period involving 1,394 households and 4,142 participants, researchers conducted biweekly nasal swabs and surveys, revealing a 25.8% infection probability within households, with similar rates across children, teenagers, and adults.
- The findings indicated that self-reported asthma and upper respiratory allergies didn't increase infection risk, while food allergies were linked to lower risk; however, a higher body mass index correlated to increased infection risk.
To identify genetic determinants of airway dysfunction, we performed a transcriptome-wide association study for asthma by combining RNA-seq data from the nasal airway epithelium of 681 children, with UK Biobank genetic association data. Our airway analysis identified 95 asthma genes, 58 of which were not identified by transcriptome-wide association analyses using other asthma-relevant tissues. Among these genes were MUC5AC, an airway mucin, and FOXA3, a transcriptional driver of mucus metaplasia.
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