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Rhinoviruses (RV) account for a significant number of asthma exacerbations, and RV species C may be associated with a severe course in vulnerable patient groups. Despite important evidence on the role of RV reported by clinicians and life scientists, there are still unanswered questions regarding their influence on asthma exacerbation in young patients. Thus, we measured the RVspecies-specific IgG titers in our German pediatric exacerbation cohort using a microarray-based technology. For this approach, human sera of patients with exacerbated asthma and wheeze, as well as healthy control subjects (n = 136) were included, and correlation analyses were performed. Concordantly with previously published results, we observed significantly higher cumulative levels of RV species A-specific IgG (p = 0.011) and RV-C-specific IgG (p = 0.051) in exacerbated asthma group compared to age-matched controls. Moreover, atopic wheezers had increased RV-specific IgG levels for species A (p = 0.0011) and species C (p = 0.0009) compared to non-atopic wheezers. Hypothesizing that bacterial infection positively correlates with immune memory against RV, we included nasopharyngeal swab results in our analyses and detected limited correlations. Interestingly, the eosinophil blood titer positively correlated with RV-specific IgG levels. With these observations, we add important observations to the existing data regarding exacerbation in pediatric and adolescent medicine. We propose that scientists and clinicians should pay more attention to the relevance of RV species in susceptible pediatric patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Respiratory viruses play an important role in asthma exacerbation, and early exposure can be involved in recurrent bronchitis and the development of asthma. The exact mechanism is not fully clarified, and pathogen-to-host interaction studies are warranted to identify biomarkers of exacerbation in the early phase. Only a limited number of international exacerbation cohorts were studied. Here, we have established a local pediatric exacerbation study in Germany consisting of children with asthma or chronic, recurrent bronchitis and analyzed the viriome within the nasopharyngeal swab specimens derived from the entire cohort (n = 141). Interestingly, 41% of exacerbated children had a positive test result for human rhinovirus (HRV)/human enterovirus (HEV), and 14% were positive for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). HRV was particularly prevalent in asthmatics (56%), wheezers (50%), and atopic (66%) patients. Lymphocytes were decreased in asthmatics and in HRV-infected subjects, and patients allergic to house dust mites were more susceptible to HRV infection. Our study thus confirms HRV infection as a strong 'biomarker' of exacerbated asthma. Further longitudinal studies will show the clinical progress of those children with a history of an RSV or HRV infection. Vaccination strategies and novel treatment guidelines against HRV are urgently needed to protect those high-risk children from a serious course of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]