Circulating microRNAs Predict Longitudinal Asthma Control and Treatment Response

The study analyzed blood samples from 491 children in the Childhood Asthma Management Program who were randomized to receive budesonide or placebo treatment. Researchers examined 266 microRNAs and their relationship to asthma control over 12 months. In the budesonide group, microRNA hsa-miR-1224-5p was associated with lower symptom severity and hsa-miR-199a-3p|hsa-miR-199b-3p with higher severity. In the placebo group, ten microRNAs were linked to symptoms. Random Forest classifiers achieved mean AUC values of 0.776 for the budesonide group and 0.714 for the placebo group in predicting asthma control at 12 months. The results suggest that circulating microRNAs specific to treatment type distinguish asthma control over time and could serve as complementary molecular markers for monitoring asthma in children.