ORIGINAL ARTICLE ASTHMA Transcriptome analysis reveals upregulation of bitter taste receptors in severe asthmatics Christina Orsmark-Pietras1,2, Anna James2,3, Jon R. Konradsen2,4,5, Bjo¨rn Nordlund2,4,5, Cilla So¨derha¨ll1,2, Ville Pulkkinen2,3,6,7, Christophe Pedroletti2,5, Kameran Daham2,8,9, Maciek Kupczyk2,3, Barbro Dahle´n2,8,9, Juha Kere1,2,10, Sven-Erik Dahle´n2,3, Gunilla Hedlin2,4,5,11 and Erik Mele´n2,3,4,11 Affiliations: 1Dept of Biosciences and Nutrition at Novum, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 2The Centre for Allergy Research at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 3Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 4Astrid Lindgren Children’s Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, 5Dept of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, 8Lung/Allergy Clinic, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, 9Dept of Internal Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, and 10Science for Life Laboratory, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. 6Dept of Medical Genetics, Biomedicum Helsinki, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, and 7Folkha¨lsan Institute of Genetics, Helsinki, Finland. 11Both authors contributed equally. Correspondence: S-E. Dahle´n, The National Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, SE- 17177 Stockholm, Sweden. E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT The causes of severe childhood asthma are poorly understood. Our aim was to define global patterns of gene expression in children with severe therapy-resistant and controlled asthma. White blood cells were isolated and the global transcriptome profile was characterised using the Affymetrix Human Gene ST 1.0 chip in children with severe, therapy-resistant asthma (n517), controlled asthma (n519) and healthy controls (n518).