# Multi-omics Analysis of Childhood Asthma in Hispanics

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2020 · $117,375

## Abstract

Puerto Ricans (PRs) share a disproportionate burden of childhood asthma in the United States. Although
genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified genetic variants associated with asthma and lung
function, such variants explain a small proportion of the heritability of these complex traits. The next step is to
identify epigenetic and transcriptomic risk markers for asthma and lung function, and to understand how they
jointly influence these traits in children. However, most epigenomic and transcriptomic studies of asthma have
thus far focused on blood. DNA methylation and gene expression in nasal (airway) epithelium are well
correlated with those in bronchial (airway) epithelium, and sampling nasal epithelial cells is safer and more
cost-effective than conducting bronchoscopies for studies of airway epithelium and asthma in children. We
recently showed promising results in an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) of childhood asthma using
DNA from nasal (airway) epithelium. Despite their facts, nasal “omics” data are rarely available and not
included in the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) database. From 2006 to 2019, we used funding from NIH
grants HL079966 and HL117191, as well as internal resources, to obtain genome-wide (GW) genotypic data,
as well as GW DNA methylation and GW gene expression data in nasal epithelium, in a well-characterized
cohort of Puerto Rican children and adolescents (aged 9 to 20 years) who participated in the Epigenetic
Variation and Childhood Asthma in Puerto Ricans study (EVA-PR). Using data generated for EVA-PR and
other studies, we have conducted: 1) a meta-analysis of GWAS of asthma in Puerto Ricans, 2) a GWAS of
lung function in children with asthma, 3) an EWAS of serum total IgE in Hispanic children, and 4) an EWAS of
atopy and atopic asthma in nasal epithelium from Puerto Rican children, with replication in two independent
cohorts. On the basis of our preliminary studies, we hypothesize that understanding complex interaction
among multi-omics data in nasal epithelium will further reveal epigenomic and transcriptomic profiles that are
associated with asthma and lung function in Puerto Rican children and in children in other ethnic groups. To
test this hypothesis, we will use an approach integrating our “omics” data from nasal epithelium in EVA-PR with
ancestry inference and an admixture mapping analysis. In particular, we will perform admixture mapping and
integrate association signals for asthma and lung function measures with analyses of GW genotypic data, and
GW DNA methylation and GW gene expression data from nasal epithelium in Puerto Rican children (Specific
[Sp.] Aim 1). We will then examine the interplay among multi-omics data and quantify their relative
contributions to asthma and lung function measures in Puerto Rican children (Sp. Aim 2). This proposal should
identify markers of asthma and lung function in a high-risk population (Puerto Rican children), and advance our
knowledge of the p...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10047993
- **Project number:** 1R21HL150431-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Juan Carlos Celedon
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $117,375
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-15 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10047993

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10047993, Multi-omics Analysis of Childhood Asthma in Hispanics (1R21HL150431-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10047993. Licensed CC0.

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