title: Identification of therapeutic targets for childhood severe asthmatics with DNA microarray.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study, we aimed to discover potential gene targets for treating childhood asthmatics.
  
  
  METHODS
  With the microarray data downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, we explored the common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in children with severe asthma and mild asthma (SA vs. MA) or healthy controls (SA vs. HC). Then we performed hierarchical clustering, function and pathway enrichment analysis for the common DEGs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 81 genes were identified to be differentially expressed in SA vs. MA and SA vs. HC group. Hierarchical clustering of the 81 DEGs could crudely separate the SA, MA and healthy individuals. The overrepresented GO terms of the common DEGs were related with lipid biosynthetic process (21.74%), pigment biosynthetic process (13.04%) and nucleoside monophosphate metabolic process (13.04%). Only one pathway was significantly enriched, which was the antigen processing and presentation pathway involved with CD4 and RFX gene.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The antigen processing and presentation pathway and lipid biosynthetic process may play roles in the pathogenesis of severe asthma. CD4 and RFX provide a therapeutic possibility for childhood asthma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University, 200120 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University, 200120 Shanghai, China. Electronic address: jinfengzhangjfz@163.com.
authors.forename: J-F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Changzheng Hospital Affiliated to the SMMU, 200003 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, 211198 Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University, 200120 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University, 200120 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Zhabei District Central Hospital, 200070 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Shanghai East Hospital, Shanghai East Hospital of Tongji University, 200120 Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000235:genetics; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D015704:CD4 Antigens / Q000235:genetics; D002648:Child; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism / Q000235:genetics; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010858:Pigmentation / Q000235:genetics; D000071701:Regulatory Factor X Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D059467:Transcriptome; D014542:Uridine Monophosphate / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015704:CD4 Antigens; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D000071701:Regulatory Factor X Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014542:Uridine Monophosphate
keywords: Childhood asthma; Differentially expressed genes; Function and pathway enrichment; Hierarchical clustering