Title: Early prevention of progression of pre-school wheezing to school-age asthma by an integrated in silico, in vitro and in vivo approach
Funder: Action Medical Research

Abstract: Background _x000D_ Up to half of all pre-school children, aged between one and five years, suffer from attacks of wheezing, with breathlessness and difficulty in breathing. A third of these young children who wheeze go on to develop asthma by the time they start school. Asthma is the most common chronic medical condition in children in the UK with one in 11 children receiving treatment for it. Childhood asthma causes a reduction in lung function that persists into adulthood. Given this life-long impact of childhood asthma on lung health, it is essential to predict which young children who wheeze will develop asthma, as this could allow early interventions to prevent the condition from developing. However, prediction is often challenging because the causes of wheezing attacks vary for each child - both allergies and lung infections are implicated. These researchers plan to investigate the processes by which pre-school wheezing results in progression to asthma. _x000D_ _x000D_ The research project_x000D_ This project aims to develop a computer-based tool that can predict which pre-school children who wheeze will go on to develop asthma. Firstly, the team will assess children originally seen at pre-school age with severe wheezing and assess whether they have asthma or low lung function at school-age. Secondly, they will undertake experiments to test how the lung cells from both young children who wheeze and school-age children with asthma respond to stimuli that cause wheezing attacks, for example, bacterial infections and allergens. Thirdly, they will combine all their findings using mathematical modelling and statistical techniques to develop a computer-based tool that can predict which young children with wheezing are most likely to develop asthma. Identifying children who are likely to develop asthma will allow early interventions which could lead to disease prevention. The researchers' next step would be to design a larger national study to evaluate the accuracy of the tool._x000D_

Lay abstract: Background _x000D_ Up to half of all pre-school children, aged between one and five years, suffer from attacks of wheezing, with breathlessness and difficulty in breathing. A third of these young children who wheeze go on to develop asthma by the time they start school. Asthma is the most common chronic medical condition in children in the UK with one in 11 children receiving treatment for it. Childhood asthma causes a reduction in lung function that persists into adulthood. Given this life-long impact of childhood asthma on lung health, it is essential to predict which young children who wheeze will develop asthma, as this could allow early interventions to prevent the condition from developing. However, prediction is often challenging because the causes of wheezing attacks vary for each child - both allergies and lung infections are implicated. These researchers plan to investigate the processes by which pre-school wheezing results in progression to asthma. _x000D_ _x000D_ The research project_x000D_ This project aims to develop a computer-based tool that can predict which pre-school children who wheeze will go on to develop asthma. Firstly, the team will assess children originally seen at pre-school age with severe wheezing and assess whether they have asthma or low lung function at school-age. Secondly, they will undertake experiments to test how the lung cells from both young children who wheeze and school-age children with asthma respond to stimuli that cause wheezing attacks, for example, bacterial infections and allergens. Thirdly, they will combine all their findings using mathematical modelling and statistical techniques to develop a computer-based tool that can predict which young children with wheezing are most likely to develop asthma. Identifying children who are likely to develop asthma will allow early interventions which could lead to disease prevention. The researchers' next step would be to design a larger national study to evaluate the accuracy of the tool._x000D_

Research activity codes: 2.1 BIOLOGICAL AND ENDOGENOUS FACTORS
Health categories: RESPIRATORY