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Children
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Molecular and Pathophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Asthma and Allergy in Children
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Molecular and Pathophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Asthma and Allergy in Children

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Pediatric Allergy and Immunology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 April 2025 | Viewed by 2404

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ivana Banić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Innovative Diagnostics, Research department, Srebrnjak Children’s Hospital, Srebrnjak 100, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: molecular and pathophysiological mechanisms in allergy and immunology; pharmacogenomics of asthma; asthma phenotypes and endotypes; genetics and epigenetics of allergy and asthma; immune dysregulation in allergy and asthma; primary immunodeficiencies
Prof. Dr. Mirjana Turkalj

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Srebrnjak Children’s Hospital, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: pathophysiological mechanisms of asthma and allergic diseases; specific immunotherapy; primary immunodeficiency; food allergy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Despite many advances being made in the field of allergy and asthma research, our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the development, pathophysiology and specific clinical manifestations of allergic diseases is still insufficient. Allergic diseases in children are a major global health issue as their prevalence is on a continuous rise worldwide, and the key factors driving this increasing trend remain elusive. Asthma and allergic diseases are the most common chronic conditions in children and they have a significant impact on the quality of life of patients and their families and caregivers. Allergic diseases such as food allergy, atopic dermatitis, asthma and allergic rhinitis are prototypical examples of conditions in which pathogenesis is a result of a complex interaction of intrinsic (genetic and epigenetic) and environmental factors. Although novel treatments of allergic diseases (such as biologicals) have already been introduced into routine clinical practice, overall, the management of allergic diseases mostly relies on symptomatic treatment and allergen avoidance/elimination, which additionally reduces patients’ quality of life. Gaining a better insight into this pathogenesis is crucial for optimizing the current and developing new and improved management and prevention strategies in allergic diseases.

Dr. Ivana Banić
Prof. Dr. Mirjana Turkalj
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • allergic diseases
  • allergy
  • asthma
  • pathophysiology of asthma and allergy
  • genetics of asthma and allergy
  • epigenetic mechanisms involved in asthma and allergy
  • inflammatory pathways in asthma and allergy
  • immune dysregulation in asthma and allergy
  • pediatric asthma and allergic diseases

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 264 KiB  
Article
Mepolizumab in Severe Pediatric Asthma: Certainties and Doubts through a Single-Center Experience and Review of the Literature
by Marco Maglione, Melissa Borrelli, Alessandro Dorato, Chiara Cimbalo, Luigi Antonio del Giudice and Francesca Santamaria
Children 2024, 11(8), 895; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11080895 - 25 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1095
Abstract
Background: Although, in most children with asthma, good symptom control is achieved with a low to moderate dose of inhaled corticosteroids, a small group of patients still experiences frequent symptoms, and even severe exacerbations, impairment of lung function, and reduced quality of life. [...] Read more.
Background: Although, in most children with asthma, good symptom control is achieved with a low to moderate dose of inhaled corticosteroids, a small group of patients still experiences frequent symptoms, and even severe exacerbations, impairment of lung function, and reduced quality of life. Some of these subjects with severe asthma require biologic drugs as add-on therapy. In the past decade, numerous monoclonal antibodies have been approved for children or adolescents with severe asthma, in addition to their increasing use in adult asthma. However, the available evidence on how to select the most appropriate biologic based on a single patient’s clinical, functional, and laboratory characteristics is still scant, and is insufficient to guide clinicians in the decision-making process of a personalized treatment. Materials and Methods: We report a case series of four patients with severe eosinophilic asthma treated with mepolizumab, an anti-interleukin-5 monoclonal antibody, and review the existing literature on this treatment in children and adolescents. Results: Our patients, all with blood eosinophilia and elevated fractional exhaled nitric oxide levels, developed poor symptom control despite prolonged treatment with high-dose inhaled corticosteroids plus a second controller, addressing the addition of a biologic drug. In all of them, a 12-month treatment with subcutaneous mepolizumab showed a reduction in the blood eosinophil count and in asthma exacerbations, as well as an improvement on the Asthma Control Test. The results of the literature search focused on the strengths and limitations of the pediatric use of mepolizumab and highlighted the areas worthy of further research. Conclusions: Mepolizumab has proven effective in improving symptom control in pediatric patients with severe asthma. Additional well-powered clinical trials will be helpful in developing evidence-based guidelines regarding biologic drugs in the pediatric population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Pathophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Asthma and Allergy in Children)
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29 pages, 4467 KiB  
Article
Impact of Interleukin-17 Receptor A Gene Variants on Asthma Susceptibility and Clinical Manifestations in Children and Adolescents
by Shymaa Ahmed Maher, Nouran B. AbdAllah, Essam Al Ageeli, Eman Riad, Shahad W. Kattan, Sherouk Abdelaal, Wagdy Abdelfatah, Gehan A. Ibrahim, Eman A. Toraih, Ghada A. Awadalla, Manal S. Fawzy and Ahmed Ibrahim
Children 2024, 11(6), 657; https://doi.org/10.3390/children11060657 - 28 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1012
Abstract
Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in multiple interleukin receptor genes could be associated with asthma risk and/or phenotype. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) has been implicated in tissue inflammation and autoimmune diseases. As no previous studies have uncovered the potential role of IL17 receptor A ( [...] Read more.
Several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in multiple interleukin receptor genes could be associated with asthma risk and/or phenotype. Interleukin-17 (IL-17) has been implicated in tissue inflammation and autoimmune diseases. As no previous studies have uncovered the potential role of IL17 receptor A (RA) gene variants in asthma risk, we aimed to explore the association of four IL17RA SNPs (i.e., rs4819554A/G, rs879577C/T, rs41323645G/A, and rs4819555C/T) with asthma susceptibility/phenotype in our region. TaqMan allelic discrimination analysis was used to genotype 192 individuals. We found that the rs4819554 G/G genotype significantly reduced disease risk in the codominant (OR = 0.15, 95%CI = 0.05–0.45, p < 0.001), dominant (OR = 0.49, 95%CI = 0.26–0.93, p = 0.028), and recessive (OR = 0.18, 95%CI = 0.07–0.52, p < 0.001) models. Similarly, rs879577 showed reduced disease risk associated with the T allele across all genetic models. However, the A allele of rs41323645 was associated with increased disease risk in all models. The G/A and A/A genotypes have higher ORs of 2.47 (95%CI = 1.19–5.14) and 3.86 (95%CI = 1.62–9.18), respectively. Similar trends are observed in the dominant 2.89 (95%CI = 1.47–5.68, p = 0.002) and recessive 2.34 (95%CI = 1.10–4.98, p = 0.025) models. For the rs4819555 variant, although there was no significant association identified under any models, carriers of the rs4819554*A demonstrated an association with a positive family history of asthma (71.4% in carriers vs. 27% in non-carriers; p = 0.025) and the use of relievers for >2 weeks (52.2% of carriers vs. 28.8% of non-carriers; p = 0.047). Meanwhile, the rs4819555*C carriers displayed a significant divergence in the asthma phenotype, specifically atopic asthma (83.3% vs. 61.1%; p = 0.007), showed a higher prevalence of chest tightness (88.9% vs. 61.5%; p = 0.029), and were more likely to report comorbidities (57.7% vs. 16.7%, p = 0.003). The most frequent haplotype in the asthma group was ACAC, with a frequency of 22.87% vs. 1.36% in the controls (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the studied IL17RA variants could be essential in asthma susceptibility and phenotype in children and adolescents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Pathophysiological Mechanisms Underlying Asthma and Allergy in Children)
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