Identification of asthma-associated microRNAs in bronchial biopsies.

Background: Changes in microRNA (miRNA) expression can contribute to the pathogenesis of many diseases, including asthma. We aimed to identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed between asthma patients and healthy controls, and explore their association with clinical and inflammatory parameters of asthma.

Methods: Differentially expressed miRNAs were determined by small RNA sequencing on bronchial biopsies of 79 asthma patients and 82 healthy controls using linear regression models.

Cholinergic neuroplasticity in asthma driven by TrkB signaling.

Parasympathetic neurons in the airways control bronchomotor tone. Increased activity of cholinergic neurons are mediators of airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) in asthma, however, mechanisms are not elucidated. We describe remodeling of the cholinergic neuronal network in asthmatic airways driven by brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB).

Profiling of healthy and asthmatic airway smooth muscle cells following interleukin-1β treatment: a novel role for CCL20 in chronic mucus hypersecretion.

Chronic mucus hypersecretion (CMH) contributes to the morbidity and mortality of asthma, and remains uncontrolled by current therapies in the subset of patients with severe, steroid-resistant disease. Altered cross-talk between airway epithelium and airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs), driven by pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-1β, provides a potential mechanism that influences CMH. This study investigated mechanisms underlying CMH by comparing IL-1β-induced gene expression profiles between asthma and control-derived ASMCs and the subsequent paracrine influence on airway epithelial mucus production IL-1β-treated ASMCs from asthmatic patients and healthy donors were profiled using microarray analysis and ELISA.