# Viral and Host Determinants of Infant and Childhood Allergy and Asthma

> **NIH NIH U19** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $1,094,138

## Abstract

Project Summary
The long-term objective of this grant is to define the relationship between infant respiratory
syncytial virus (RSV) infection and the host response that enables asthma inception using both
a longitudinal birth cohort (Project 1) and a mouse model of RSV infection (Project 2). The
goals of Project 1 are two-fold: first to identify RSV strains associated with asthma inception,
and second to understand the mechanisms through which these RSV strains cause asthma in
humans. To test our hypotheses, we propose to extend longitudinal follow-up of the 1900
children enrolled in the established INSPIRE birth cohort who will be four at the end of the first
U19 funding period. This will enable us to confirm if the RSV strains that we have identified to
cause more severe infant morbidity and early wheezing outcomes are also associated with
asthma development and the pathways through which these RSV strains cause asthma. We
propose to test our hypotheses through the following Aims. Specific Aim 1: Identify RSV strains
associated with asthma inception and respiratory morbidity at ages 6 to 8 years. Specific Aim 2:
Determine how RSV strains differentially impact the host microbial environment during primary
RSV infection, if those microbial changes persist with time, and if microbial changes are
associated with changes in immune responses and asthma development. Specific Aim 3:
Assess primary airway epithelial cell (AEC) response to asthmagenic RSV strains. We will in
vitro identify the differential AEC responses from INSPIRE children with their infecting strains
and asthmagenic RSV strains. Specific Aim 4: Determine RSV induced memory T cell and
innate responses associated with asthma inception in the INSPIRE cohort. We will use non-
asthmagenic (control) and asthmagenic strains of RSV to stimulate PBMCs in children with and
without RSV-associated asthma at ages 3 and 6 years, and compare responses. We propose
an innovative set of studies identifying asthmagenic RSV strains and elucidating mechanisms of
RSV-mediated asthma development by determining how RSV strains interact with the host to
cause asthma.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11085734
- **Project number:** 3U19AI095227-15S1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Ray Stokes Peebles
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $1,094,138
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2011-08-04 → 2026-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11085734

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11085734, Viral and Host Determinants of Infant and Childhood Allergy and Asthma (3U19AI095227-15S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11085734. Licensed CC0.

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