![Investigating the Obesity-asthma Connection]()
Obesity ranks as an important cause of asthma in children. Compared with their lean asthmatic counterparts, children with obese non-allergic asthma tend to have worse asthma control and don’t respond well to treatment. In investigating why obese children face an increased risk for asthma, Deepa Rastogi, M.D., M.B.B.S., found that obese asthmatic children have abnormally active genes in a signaling pathway involving CDC42, a protein that helps activate T cells. Now the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has awarded Dr. Rastogi a five-year $2.2 million grant to further investigate the CDC42 pathway’s role in non-allergic obesity-related asthma. Using cell samples from obese asthmatics and normal-weight control asthmatics, she and her colleagues will determine the cell types in which the CDC42 pathway is activated and whether it could be targeted for treating obesity-related asthma. Dr. Rastogi is associate professor of pediatrics and the Joseph S. Blume Faculty Scholar in Pediatric Development at Einstein and attending physician at Montefiore. (1R01HL141849-01A1)
Posted on: Thursday, February 21, 2019