title: How cytokines co-occur across asthma patients: from bipartite network analysis to a molecular-based classification.
abstract: Asthmatic patients are currently classified as either severe or non-severe based primarily on their response to glucocorticoids. However, because this classification is based on a post-hoc assessment of treatment response, it does not inform the rational staging of disease or therapy. Recent studies in other diseases suggest that a classification which includes molecular information could lead to more accurate diagnoses and prediction of treatment response. We therefore measured cytokine values in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples of the lower respiratory tract obtained from 83 asthma patients, and used bipartite network visualizations with associated quantitative measures to conduct an exploratory analysis of the co-occurrence of cytokines across patients. The analysis helped to identify three clusters of patients which had a complex but understandable interaction with three clusters of cytokines, leading to insights for a state-based classification of asthma patients. Furthermore, while the patient clusters were significantly different based on key pulmonary functions, they appeared to have no significant relationship to the current classification of asthma patients. These results suggest the need to define a molecular-based classification of asthma patients, which could improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.
authors: Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States; Preventive Medicine & Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States; School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas, Houston, TX, United States. Electronic address: skbhavnani@gmail.com.
authors: Suresh K
authors: SK
authors: Bhavnani
authors: Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
authors: Sundar
authors: S
authors: Victor
authors: Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
authors: William J
authors: WJ
authors: Calhoun
authors: Department of Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, United States.
authors: William W
authors: WW
authors: Busse
authors: School of Medicine, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, United States.
authors: Eugene
authors: E
authors: Bleecker
authors: Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States.
authors: Mario
authors: M
authors: Castro
authors: Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States; Preventive Medicine & Community Health, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
authors: Hyunsu
authors: H
authors: Ju
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
authors: Regina
authors: R
authors: Pillai
authors: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
authors: Numan
authors: N
authors: Oezguen
authors: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
authors: Gowtham
authors: G
authors: Bellala
authors: Institute for Translational Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX, United States.
authors: Allan R
authors: AR
authors: Brasier
mesh_terms: D001249:Asthma / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines