Realizing Personalized Medicine in Asthmatic Children Requires Large-Scale Collaboration

Although asthma treatment is effective in many children, there is large variability in the response as evidenced by improved symptom control, reduced exacerbations and lung function improvement. A study by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Childhood Asthma Research and Education Network detailed theresponses of 144 children with mild-to-moderate asthma to 8-weeks of treatmentwith inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in a randomized cross-over design. 

A large variation in lung function improvement from baseline was found. Change in asthma-controlled days showed a similarly wide distribution, varying between an increase of seven asthma controlled days per week to a decrease of four asthma-controlled days per week. One mechanism for heterogeneity in treatment response seems likely to be due to genetic variations within the asthma population. These genetic variants may be due to either innate differences in underlying disease subtype all manifesting clinically as asthma or to pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamics influences on drug level or target.  Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>