Nasal key driver genes linked to ozone, fine particulate matter exposure in asthma
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Key takeaways:
- In patients with persistent asthma, researchers found six key driver genes for ozone exposure and three for fine particulate matter exposure.
- The FGL2 gene appeared in both types of pollution.
WASHINGTON — Among patients with asthma, various nasal key driver genes are linked to ozone and fine particulate matter exposure, according to data presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.
“Poor air quality around the world is increasingly common,” Supinda Bunyavanich, MD, MPH, MPhil, Mount Sinai endowed professor in allergy and systems biology, told Healio. “Exposure to ozone and particulate matter triggers asthma exacerbations.”
Using a cohort of 167 patients (mean age, 12.4 years; 43% female) with mild to severe persistent asthma residing in the New York metropolitan area, Bunyavanich, Yoojin Chun, MS, computational biologist in the research group, and colleagues sought to find nasal key driver genes linked to ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stations calculating daily levels of air pollutants provided insight on ozone and PM2.5 levels, and RNA sequencing allowed researchers to identify nasally-expressed genes from patient samples.
Most of the patients in this cohort identified as white (38%) or Latino (34%), with fewer patients identifying as Black (18%), Asian (3%) or “other” (8%).
Through the Asthma Control Test (range, 5-25 points), in which a lower score signals less control, researchers found a mean score of 16.6. Lung function was expressed through FEV1, and an FEV1 percent predicted less than 80% was found in 31% of the cohort.
In terms of PM2.5 exposure, key driver genes included FGL2, TNFRSF10C and EVI2B. Notably, FGL2, “a master regulator of asthma,” was also identified as a key driver gene in ozone exposure along with CLC, LGALS12, CPA3, HRH4, IL7R, according to researchers.
In both types of pollution, researchers found that the most upstream key driver was FGL2. Further, a distinct upstream key driver in PM2.5 exposure was TNFRSF10C, whereas in ozone exposure, CLC was this type of driver. Researchers noted a known link between CLC and multimorbidity for asthma, dermatitis and rhinitis.
“We found that among individuals with asthma, key drivers for ozone and particulate matter-associated networks in the airway encode proteins involved in inflammation and pro-allergic response,” Bunyavanich told Healio. “In contrast, individuals without asthma have key drivers that encode anti-inflammatory DNA repair.
“Our research shows that the airways of individuals with asthma demonstrate a distinctive pro-inflammatory response to air pollution,” Bunyavanich added.
References:
- Chun Y, et al. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024;doi:10.1016/jaci.2023.11.780.
- Ozone and PM2.5 exposure is associated with nasal key driver gene expression in people with asthma. https://www.aaaai.org/about/news/news/2024/ozone. Published Feb. 5, 2024. Accessed Feb. 6, 2024.