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Asthmatic mother and patient genotype influenced risk for asthma into adulthood

MicroRNA regulation of soluble HLA-G in the airway is influenced by the patient’s mother’s asthma in addition to genotype, results from a recent study in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology suggest.

“The prenatal environment is influential in determining fetal risk for diseases with onset in childhood and throughout adult life. We and others have suggested that the well-established increased risk for asthma among children of asthmatic mothers is due to their unique prenatal exposures, at least in part,” study researchers said. “We previously reported an interaction between fetal HLA-G genotypes and maternal asthma in childhood and hypothesized that the mechanism might be mediated by miRNAs.”

Researchers measured the soluble HLA-G concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and plasma from adult asthmatic patients with and without a mother with asthma, and HLA-G and miR-152 family transcript levels in airway epithelial cells from the same patients. Results showed that miR-148b levels were significantly increased in airway epithelial cells from those in the asthmatic mother group vs. those of the non-asthmatic mother group (P=.04). Among asthmatic patients with an asthmatic mother, +3142 genotypes were associated with soluble HLA-G concentrations in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid but not among those with a non-asthmatic mother (P=.004).

“In this study we demonstrated that the HLA-G +3142 genotype is associated with [soluble] HLA-G levels in the airway, but not in the peripheral blood, of asthmatic subjects. Although [soluble] HLA-G concentrations did not vary significantly by maternal asthma status, a significant interaction was observed when evaluated in combination with HLA-G genotype,” study researchers said. “Importantly, the association between +3142 genotypes and [soluble] HLA-G concentrations in the airways is only present in subjects with an asthmatic mother.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.