Exercise Training in Children and Adults: Mechanisms of Allaying Inflammation in Asthma

The goal of this research is to determine whether 10-weeks of exercise training can benefit asthmatic children and young adults with a history of exercise-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB). The investigators will also study an exciting newly discovered aspect of gene expression regulation in the white blood cells known as epigenetics: a process that takes place when genomic changes happen as a result of exposure to the environment. This study is based on emerging exciting new data from this and other laboratories demonstrating that (a) white blood cells play an important role in bronchoconstriction in children, (b) gene and cytokine expression in circulating white blood cells are abnormal in asthma and (c) brief exercise may change genomic and inflammatory- profiles of these cells.Physical activity is an essential component of growth and health in children, thus, this research will lead to improved clinical uses of exercise as preventive and adjunctive therapy in the current epidemic of childhood asthma