Utilising the air-liquid interface model to understand the association between respiratory syncytial virus infection and lung remodelling in the development of childhood asthma

Research summary

The overall aim of this study is to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying RSV-induced lung remodelling that contributes to the development of chronic lung disease such as asthma. This can be split into three objectives: 1. Comparison of RSV-induced responses in bronchial ALI cultures derived from asthmatic and non-asthmatic paediatric patients. 2. Determining secreted factors from RSV-infected bronchial ALI cultures that drive fibroblast-myofibroblast differentiation and fibrosis. 3. Transcriptomic analysis and comparison of bronchial cells from RSV-infected patients and bronchial ALI cultures from asthmatic and non-asthmatic patients. To do this we will recruit 2 cohorts of children from Oxford Children's Hospital: - 20 children <12 years of age with asthma and 20 age-matched controls who are undergoing a bronchoscopy. Bronchial and nasal brush samples will be obtained. - 20 children <5 years of age with a confirmed RSV infection and 20 age-match healthy controls. Only nasal samples will be obtained from these children. These samples will be processed at the University of Surrey to create Bronchial ALI cultures.

Principal Investigator

Dr Simon Drysdale

Contact us

Email: childrensresearch@ouh.nhs.uk

IRAS number

343535