U01AI160075

Cause Clinical Research Center New York (CAUSE-CRC) - Project Summary/Abstract

Pediatric asthma disproportionately impacts children who live in urban communities, partly due to environmental exposure to allergens, stress, and air pollution. This project establishes a clinical research center to conduct both network-wide and site-specific clinical studies and trials with the ultimate goal of developing effective asthma treatment or prevention approaches applicable to children residing in low-income urban settings.

For a significant number of asthma patients, guideline-directed treatment does not achieve disease control, suggesting the need, and potential benefit, for treatment(s) that are personalized to the phenotype of these patients. As evident by cluster analyses in adults and children, there is a group of severe asthmatics that have fewer characteristics of type 2 inflammation and in whom type 2 cytokine-targeting biologics may be less effective.

Children living in inner-cities are exposed and sensitized to allergens, particularly cockroach, triggering type 2 inflammatory response and exposed to high levels of indoor and outdoor irritants and pollutants which can trigger TH1 and TH17 neutrophilic inflammation. There is a need to have a better understanding of mechanisms of non-atopic asthma. Systemic inflammation with IL-6 as a biomarker is a mechanism that is postulated to mediate asthma severity. IL-6 is produced by cells of the immune system and secreted by airway epithelial cells and has been proposed as a potential target for asthma therapy.

While cytokine and soluble receptor levels, as well as genetic studies of IL-6R, have been examined in relation to asthma, the intrinsic capacity for the receptor to signal within differing phenotypic populations has not. The objective of this study is to determine whether intrinsic signaling responses to circulating IL6 and other cytokines differ between cockroach negative, lower atopic children and cockroach allergic, higher atopic children with moderate to severe asthma. We hypothesize that genetic polymorphisms will modify intrinsic IL-6 signaling and that IL-6 signaling will be a determinant of morbidity.

The protocol will test exploratory hypotheses that pollution and stress lead to exacerbations in those with higher intrinsic signaling. To test this hypothesis, we propose a study designed to identify differences in intrinsic IL-6 signaling in children with asthma. The study will include children who: 1) are between the ages of 6 and 20 years; 2) have a history of recurrent wheeze/persistent asthma of at least one year duration; and 3) live in low-income census tracts of U.S. inner-city communities. Studies of intrinsic IL-6 signaling and SNP carrier status will be done on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) at baseline. These studies will be done on nasal epithelial cells on a subset of participants.

We propose a 12-month follow-up at 3-month intervals to prospectively determine the relationship of IL-6 signaling to symptoms and exacerbations.

The Trustees Of Columbia University In The City Of New York

TO ASSIST PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS TO ESTABLISH, EXPAND AND IMPROVE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS, TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS. TO ASSIST PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS, TO PROVIDE RESEARCH SERVICES AS REQUIRED BY THE AGENCY FOR PROGRAMS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, AND CONTROLLING DISEASE CAUSED BY INFECTIOUS OR PARASITIC AGENTS, ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS. PROJECTS RANGE FROM STUDIES OF MICROBIAL PHYSIOLOGY AND ANTIGENIC STRUCTURE TO COLLABORATIVE TRIALS OF EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS AND VACCINES, MECHANISMS OF RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS AS WELL AS RESEARCH DEALING WITH EPIDEMIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS OR COMMUNITY POPULATIONS AND PROGRESS IN ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES. BECAUSE OF THIS DUAL FOCUS, THE PROGRAM ENCOMPASSES BOTH BASIC RESEARCH AND CLINICAL RESEARCH. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM EXPANDS AND IMPROVES PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. THE SBIR PROGRAM INTENDS TO INCREASE AND FACILITATE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. RESEARCH CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTISTS DURING THE FORMATIVE STAGES OF THEIR CAREERS. INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS (NRSAS) ARE MADE DIRECTLY TO APPROVE APPLICANTS FOR RESEARCH TRAINING IN SPECIFIED BIOMEDICAL SHORTAGE AREAS. IN ADDITION, INSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS ARE MADE TO ENABLE INSTITUTIONS TO SELECT AND MAKE AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS TO RECEIVE TRAINING UNDER THE AEGIS OF THEIR INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM.

93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [HHS - NIH]

New York, New York 100321559 United States

Single Zip Code

Childhood Asthma in Urban Settings -Clinical Research Centers (U01 Clinical Trial Optional) (RFA-AI-19-073)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 398% from $461,000 to $2,295,803.