Severe Asthma Research Program
A National Institutes of Health/ National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute sponsored network
Mario Castro, MD, MPH; Principal Investigator
Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics and Radiology
Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri 63110 Type your paragraph here.
Kenneth Schechtman, PhD; Co-Investigator
Washington University
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Leonard Bacharier, MD; Co-Investigator
Professor of Pediatrics
Washington University/St Louis Children’s Hospital
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
The Washington University in St. Louis site includes a site for adult participants at Washington University Medical Center (Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine) and a site for pediatric participants at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (Division of Allergy, Immunology and Pulmonary Medicine).
The goal of our study is to better understand the changes that occur in the airways of people with severe asthma and what happens to these airways over time. We are studying adults and children with severe asthma using CT and MRI imaging, along with other measurements of the airways such as lung function. We will compare what we find with other study subjects that have well-controlled asthma, chronic bronchitis or no airway disease. We have previously learned that the airways in asthma change over time, called “airway remodeling” and that the remodeling that happens is partly due to changes in the cells lining the airway, including cells that make mucus. We believe that there are certain types of inflammatory cells that are increased in patients with asthma and lead to these changes in the airways and in production of mucus. Our study looks to understand how changes in the airways occur over time in patients and how those changes might be identified in different types of imaging methods. By studying these airway changes we hope to identify people with asthma that would benefit from specific targeted therapy. This project will lead to new insights into the mechanisms that lead to severe asthma, how it differs from mild-to-moderate asthma, identify new targets for intervention, and will provide imaging measurements to evaluate outcomes for new asthma treatments.
Site Investigators:
Washington University at St. Louis
Jason Woods, PhD; Co-Investigator
Professor of Pediatrics and Radiology
Cincinnati Children’s
Cincinnati, Ohio 45229
Site Coordinators:
Rachel Weaver
Phone: (314)362-3627
Fax: (314)362-8056
Email: rachelweaver@wustl.edu
David Gierada, MD; Co-Investigator
Professor of RadiologyWashington University
St. Louis, Missouri 63110