Mechanisms of Acute Asthma Exacerbations Through Molecular Analysis of Airway Secretions and Tissues (MAST-X)

University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Asthma

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other; Industry

Identifiers

NCT00603629

H6788-31516-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to investigate mechanisms which cause acute asthma exacerbations by examining blood and airway secretions during an acute onset (sputum or tracheal aspirates). This pilot study is intended to uncover new mechanisms of asthma exacerbation and to generate hypotheses for future study. By collaborating with Genentech, we (scientists at UCSF) plan to incorporate the latest scientific findings into our work to discover and develop new treatments for asthma.

Full description

Asthma is a common airway disease with persistent unmet needs in terms of treatment. Although many asthmatics enjoy good control of their disease by using regularly scheduled corticosteroid treatment, a significant minority do not achieve optimal control with steroids and suffer asthma exacerbations which can be severe and even fatal. Asthma pathophysiology is complex and involves multiple cell types and multiple signaling mechanisms. One approach to this complexity has been to study responses of isolated airway cells to experimental conditions which model asthmatic inflammation; another has been genetic manipulations of candidate mediators of asthma in inbred mice. These studies have yielded important insights about possible mechanisms of asthma in humans, but the relevance of these mechanisms to human disease has not always been proven, and it is possible that unsuspected mechanisms have not yet been revealed by these approaches.

In the current study, we propose to collect samples of airway secretions and blood from asthmatic subjects when their asthma is uncontrolled and they are being treated in the hospital or emergency room. Our goal will be to identify abnormal gene expression profiles and protein concentration abnormalities in these biological fluids. We will then study them again 6-10 weeks later when their asthma is controlled. This study design will allow us to compare airway and blood biomarkers of asthma exacerbation during acute asthma and recovery. "

Enrollment: 23 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 75 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Male and female subjects aged 18 - 70 years
2. Medical history of asthma
3. Currently experiencing an acute exacerbation of asthma
4. Ability to provide informed consent or have a surrogate provide consent.
5. Ability to provide sputum.

Exclusion criteria

1. Cigarette smoking: Subjects must be non-smokers. Non-smokers are defined as subjects who have never smoked or who have not smoked for 1 year and have a total pack-year smoking history < 10 packs.
2. Pregnant women.

Trial design

23 participants in 1 patient group

I

Description:

People with acute asthma in the Emergency department or inpatient settings