Asthma - when breathing is difficult

Even during pregnancy and in early infancy, genetic predispositions and environmental influences such as air pollution can affect children's lung development and lead to various respiratory symptoms in the first year of life. Since 1999, the research team of the BILD study (Basel Bern Infant Lung Development) has therefore been systematically investigating the development of respiratory diseases.

Olga Gorlanova has been involved in the research since 2011, when the study was also conducted in Basel. Her research focuses on genetics: „One of the successes of this study is that we were able to identify the gene regions that are associated with lung function in infants.“

For this study, lung function measurements are also taken five to six weeks after the birth of the child. This measurement requires a lot of patience on the part of the parents and researchers. Although the measurement only takes a few minutes, it is necessary to wait until the baby is fast asleep. This can take several hours in some circumstances. Only then is the breathing air measured for ten minutes with the help of a face mask. But the effort is worth it: „Measuring lung function in infants has never been done before. In addition, we repeat the measurement at the age of six and this comprehensive analysis of the lungs provides us with completely new insights into lung development in children. That makes our study exceptional.“

In addition, the level of pollutants in the child's ambient air is measured. Air samples taken inside and outside the child's home are analysed for this purpose. The pollutant levels provide further valuable information on the development of lung diseases.

These studies have already been carried out and analysed in a total of 930 children. The results showed that there are factors that reduce the development of asthma. For example, living on a farm: „Children who grow up on a farm have a lower risk of developing asthma than children from the city. This is mainly due to contact with the animals. In our study, we were also able to show that children who have certain asthma gene variants in chromosome number 17 but were breastfed were less likely to show symptoms of a respiratory disease in the first year of life. It is assumed that an interplay between the genes and the ingredients of breast milk is responsible for this.“

What Gorlanova particularly likes about working at UKBB is the variety: „I learn something new every day and have to constantly develop my skills. It also requires a lot of personal responsibility and independent work. Nevertheless, I also have contact with patients and am part of an international research team.“
The aim of the study is to examine even more children in order to obtain further results on lung development and to gain new perspectives on the understanding of childhood asthma. We are looking forward to the further findings and it is certain that we will continue to read about Olga Gorlanova and her research on asthma in the future.

Olga Gorlanova studied medicine at the Chelyabinsk State Medical Academy (Russia) and obtained her doctorate there in 2003. After several years of experience as a doctor, she came to Basel and completed her Master's degree in Infection Biology/Epidemiology at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (TPH) in 2011. Since then, she has been working on the BILD study, which is also supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).

Aline Eberle, Communications Intern UKBB