17q21 Variants Disturb Mucosal Host Defense in Childhood Asthma.

The strongest genetic risk factor for childhood-onset asthma, the 17q21 locus, is associated with increased viral susceptibility and disease-promoting processes. To identify biological targets underlying the escalated viral susceptibility associated with the clinical phenotype mediated by the 17q21 locus. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis of nasal brushes from 261 children (78 healthy, 79 preschool wheezers, 104 asthmatics) within the ALLIANCE cohort, with a median age of 10.0 [1.0-20.0], was conducted to explore the impact of their 17q21 genotype (SNP This study revealed that the 17q21 risk allele induces a genotype- and asthma/wheeze phenotype-dependent enhancement of mucosal This study demonstrates a novel disease-driving mechanism induced by the 17q21 risk allele. Increased mucosal