ASTHMA SEVERITY IN CHILDHOOD AND METABOLOMIC PROFILING OF BREATH CONDENSATE

Background. Asthma is a heterogeneous disease and its different phenotypes need to be better characterized from a biochemical-inflammatory standpoint. The present study aimed to apply the metabolomic approach to exhaled breath condensate (breathomics) to discriminate different asthma phenotypes, with a particular focus on severe asthma in children. Methods. In this cross sectional study we recruited 42 asthmatic children (age 8-17 years): 31 with non-severe asthma (treated with inhaled steroids or not) and 11 with severe asthma. Fifteen healthy children were enrolled as controls. Children performed exhaled nitric oxide measurement, spirometry, exhaled breath condensate (EBC) collection. Condensate samples were analysed using a metabolomic approach based on mass spectrometry. Results. A robust O2PLS-DA model was found for discriminating both between severe asthma cases and healthy controls (R2=0.93; Q2=0.75) and between severe asthma and non-severe asthma (R2=0.84; Q2=0.47). The metabolomic data analysis leads to a robust model also when the 3 groups of children were considered altogether (R2=0.78, K=0.59), indicating that each group is characterised by a specific metabolomic profile. Compounds related to retinoic acid, adenosine and vitamin D (Human Metabolome Database), were relevant for the discrimination between groups Conclusion. The metabolomic profiling of EBC could clearly distinguish children with different degrees of asthma severity and enabled the severe asthma phenotype to be fully discriminated. The breathomics approach may therefore be suitable for discriminating between different asthma metabolic phenotypes.

CARRARO Silvia;  GIORDANO Giuseppe;  RENIERO Fabiano;  CARPI Donatella;  STOCCHERO Matteo;  STERK Peter;  BARALDI Eugenio; 

2013-02-25

WILEY-BLACKWELL

JRC70161

0105-4538,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC70161,   

10.1111/all.12063,