Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Allison K Farrell
Department of Psychology, Miami University, Oxford, United States
Henriette Mair-Meijers
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Adnan Alazizi
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Xiaoquan Wen
Department of Biostatistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States
Derek E Wildman
College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, United States
Samuele Zilioli
Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States; Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Richard B Slatcher
Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, United States
Social interactions and the overall psychosocial environment have a demonstrated impact on health, particularly for people living in disadvantaged urban areas. Here, we investigated the effect of psychosocial experiences on gene expression in peripheral blood immune cells of children with asthma in Metro Detroit. Using RNA-sequencing and a new machine learning approach, we identified transcriptional signatures of 19 variables including psychosocial factors, blood cell composition, and asthma symptoms. Importantly, we found 169 genes associated with asthma or allergic disease that are regulated by psychosocial factors and 344 significant gene-environment interactions for gene expression levels. These results demonstrate that immune gene expression mediates the link between negative psychosocial experiences and asthma risk.
