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Newswise Asthma may be more harmful than was previously thought, according to UCLA researchers who found that genetic damage is present in circulating, or peripheral, blood. Doctors previously thought that the genetic damage it caused was limited to the lungs.

In the study, researchers looked for the overexpression of a cytokine called interleukin 13 (IL-13), which is known to mediate inflammation, a critical problem for people with asthma.

The study, which was conducted in an animal model that mimicked human asthma, was the first to assess the role of IL-13 in genetic damage to cells, or genotoxicity, said its senior author, Robert Schiestl, a professor of pathology and radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Asthma is a very widespread disease, and we show for the first time an association between asthma and genotoxicity in peripheral blood, said Schiestl, who also is a professor of environmental health sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. This is important because it shows a whole-body effect from asthma, not just damage in the lungs.

The findings were published today in the peer-reviewed journal Mutation Research/Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis.

Schiestl said it appears that IL-13 increases important elements of the inflammatory response, including reactive oxygen species molecules ions or very small molecules that include free radicals. His research team found that ROS-derived oxidative stress induced genetic damage with four types of systemic effects in the peripheral blood: Oxidative DNA damage. Single and double DNA strand breaks. Micronucleus formation. Protein damage.

Schiestl said all four effects causes the chromosomes to become unstable, which could result in a variety of other diseases.

We found four different markers of DNA damage and one marker of protein damage in blood cells in the body periphery, which was very surprising, Schiestl said. This could indicate that other organs in asthmatics have a higher risk of developing disease.

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Genetic Damage Caused by Asthma Shows Up in Circulating Blood Stream, Too