Gene expression data from severe asthmatic children: PBMC profiles during acute exacerbation versus convalescence

Severe asthma exacerbations in children requiring hospitalisation are typically associated with viral infection, and occur almost exclusively amongst atopics, but the significance of these comorbidities is unknown. We hypothesised that underlying interactions between immunoinflammatory pathways related to responses to aeroallergen and virus are involved, and that evidence of these interactions is detectable in circulating cells during exacerbations. To address this hypothesis we used a genomics-based approach involving profiling of PBMC subpopulations collected during acute exacerbation versus convalescence by microarray and flow cytometry. The study design consisted of 25 atopic subjects, divided into 5 different pools, with each pool containing equal amounts of RNA from 5 subjects, either at acute exacerbation or convalscent stage.