Characterization of Adults for Asthma Microbiome Research Studies (CAARS)

This is a prospective, observational study in which approximately 200 subjects will be enrolled, including healthy controls, atopic controls without asthma, and patients with stable asthma (n = 150). Among asthmatics, 2/3 will be on regular inhaled corticosteroid therapy and 1/3 will not be taking inhaled corticosteroids. Subjects who meet study criteria will undergo phenotypic characterization in multiple domains, including evaluation of lung function, assessments of asthma/allergy history, asthma triggers, asthma symptom control, environmental microbial exposures and dietary intake. Oral rinse, sputum, stool, urine and blood specimens will be collected for microbiome-related analyses, including molecular and culture-based assays, metabolite studies, and to relate these to markers of inflammation and immune function. The overall goal is to enroll a cohort of well-characterized asthmatic and non-asthmatic control subjects to enable mechanism-oriented studies of how members of the airway microbiota and possibly also gut microbiota influence phenotypes of adult asthma.