How cytokines co-occur across asthma patients: from bipartite network analysis to a molecular-based classification.

ABSTRACT: Asthmatic patients are currently classified as either severe or non-severe based primarily on their response to glucocorticoids. However, because this classification is based on a post-hoc assessment of treatment response, it does not inform the rational staging of disease or therapy. Recent studies in other diseases suggest that a classification which includes molecular information could lead to more accurate diagnoses and prediction of treatment response. We therefore measured cytokine values in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples of the lower respiratory tract obtained from 83 asthma patients, and used bipartite network visualizations with associated quantitative measures to conduct an exploratory analysis of the co-occurrence of cytokines across patients. The analysis helped to identi

SUBMITTER: Bhavnani SK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3277832 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature