Lauren Benton, MD

The risk of having asthma is high in allergic children who experience febrile respiratory infections (fLRI). Although we do not know why asthma is more likely in children with an fLRI, previous studies have shown that young children who have disease-causing bacteria in their nose and throat are more prone to severe respiratory infections. We think that when these bacteria interact with the body’s immune defenses, excessive or inappropriate responses occur that cause the child to get sicker, and this in turn, may damage the bronchi and predispose for asthma. We will employ the powerful tools of systems biology to study at the same time the microbes that live in our bodies and our responses to these microbes—specifically, the microbes present in children who have fever during those infections. The study population will consist of young children who come to a hospital with severe respiratory infections. Our final goal is to find ways in which we can prevent asthma in children who are susceptible.

Update: Thus far, we have collected blood, nasal swabs and questionnaire data from 72 participants during an acute LRI. We have collected nasal swabs and questionnaire data from 12 of those participants who are no longer ill and have follow up appointments scheduled with other participants who were recruited toward the end of this past viral respiratory season. Each of the participants has a complete blood count with differential and nasal RNA isolation already completed. RNA, or ribonucleic acid, reveals real-time genetic activity. In the next year, we will execute several analyses and tests. Specifically, we will conduct gene expression analysis to help understand how cells respond to infection; shotgun metagenomic analysis to identify all microorganisms that are present in each nasal microbiome; total IgE and specific IgE testing to identify allergic immune response; and allergy-related antibodies on all the study’s participants.