title: Genetic approach identifies distinct asthma pathways in overweight vs normal weight children.
abstract: The pathogenesis of asthma in the context of excess body weight may be distinct from asthma that develops in normal weight children. The study's objective was to explore the biology of asthma in the context of obesity and normal weight status using genetic methodologies. Associations between asthma and SNPs in 49 genes were assessed, as well as, interactions between SNPs and overweight status in child participants of the Greater Cincinnati Pediatric Clinic Repository. Asthma was significantly associated with weight (OR = 1.38; P = 0.037). The number of genes and the magnitude of their associations with asthma were notably greater when considering overweight children alone vs normal weight and overweight children together. When considering weight, distinct sets of asthma-associated genes were observed, many times with opposing effects. We demonstrated that the underlying heterogeneity of asthma is likely due in part to distinct pathogenetic pathways that depend on preceding/comorbid overweight and/or allergy. It is therefore important to consider both obesity and asthma when conducting studies of asthma.
authors.affiliation: Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.|Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Butsch Kovacic
authors.affiliation: Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.|Division of Molecular Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Biagini Myers
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Genetics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindsey
authors.affiliation: Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Mersha
authors.affiliation: Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Khurana Hershey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D001249:Asthma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D023281:Genomics; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015398:Signal Transduction
keywords: allergy; children; interaction; overweight