Research project

Preconception environment and related epigenetic mechanisms in asthma and allergies

Project overview

The incidence of asthma and allergies increased exponentially with industrialization and urbanization, giving a staggering burden of disease that affects individuals from early childhood. Despite decades of intensive research, we are yet unable to prevent these conditions as the causes are not well understood. A new approach is urgently needed. Our early analyses suggest that the environment before conception might be key to development of asthma and allergies, not least through future fathers, and that puberty might be an important vulnerability period. If true, this will have ground-breaking impact on understanding the asthma and allergy epidemic, and profoundly alter policies in pursue of optimal public health.

The concept of inheritance of environmental risks across generations is novel, and by its nature, difficult to study in humans where generations span decades. However, we have established a high-quality original interdisciplinary team that will utilize and develop unique data resources and methods to address this challenge. This proposal aims to identify determinants of asthma and allergy that operate before conception, time windows of particular susceptibility, and epigenetic mechanisms by which these act. We will use cutting-edge epidemiological, epigenetic and experimental methods to address expertly assessed exposures (oral moist tobacco, smoking, occupation, obesity, diet, anti-bacterial chemicals, microbial diversity and infections, greenspace, air pollution, indoor environment, mental health and quality of life).

The Nordic countries are uniquely placed for multi-generation research in humans, with high-quality national registries covering the last century - the period of the emerging welfare society. This proposal provides an opportunity for my team to build excellence and become a leading international research group in multi-generation research, a field in which Norway has a potential to be a world key player.

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor John Holloway PhD, FHEA

Associate V-P Interdisciplinary Research

Research interests

  • Human genetics
  • Epigenetics
  • Respiratory Disease
Connect with John

Research outputs

Simone Accordini, Lucia Calciano, Ane Johannessen, Bryndis Benediktsdóttir, Randi Jacobsen Bertelsen, Lennart Bråbäck, Shyamali C. Dharmage, Bertil Forsberg, Francisco Gomez Real, John Holloway, Mathias Holm, Christer Janson, Nils Oskar Jõgi, Rain Jögi, Andrei Malinovschi, Alessandro Marcon, Jesús Martínez-moratalla Rovira, José Luis Sánchez-Ramos, Vivi Schlunssen, Kjell Torén, Deborah Jarvis & Cecilie Svanes, 2021, European Respiratory Journal, 58(4), 2002791
Type: article
Cecilie Svanes, Randi J. Bertelsen, Simone Accordini, John Holloway, Petur Juliusson, Eistine Boateng, Susanne Krauss-Eschmann, Vivi Schlunssen, Francisco Gomez Real & Svein Magne Skulstad, 2021, Biology of Reproduction, 105(3), 667-680
Type: article
Barbara Hammer, Latha Perunthadambil Kadalayil, Eistine Boateng, Dominik Buschmann, Faisal I. Rezwan, Martin Wolff, Sebastian Reuter, Sabine Bartel, Toril Mørkve Knudsen, Cecilie Svanes, John W. Holloway & Susanne Krauss-etschmann, 2021, International Journal of Obesity, 45(7), 1623-1627
Type: article
Abigail P. Bline, Kerry L. Dearfield, David M. Demarini, Francesco Marchetti, Carole L. Yauk, Jill Escher, Pradeep Bhide, Chris Bostic, John W. Holloway, Ilona Jaspers, Anne Le Goff, Cecilie Svanes, Jacquetta Trasler, Gyeyoon Yim & T.h. Harvard, 2020, Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis, 61(9), 910-921
Type: letterEditorial
G.T. Mørkve Knudsen, F.I. Rezwan, A. Johannessen, S.M. Skulstad, R.J. Bertelsen, F.G. Real, S. Krauss-etschmann, V. Patil, D. Jarvis, S.H. Arshad, J.W. Holloway & C. Svanes, 2019, Environmental Epigenetics, 5(4), 1-10
Type: article