What did we learn from multiple omics studies in asthma?

Abstract

More than a decade has passed since the finalization of the Human Genome Project. Omics technologies made a huge leap from trendy and very expensive to routinely executed and relatively cheap assays. Simultaneously, we understood that omics is not a panacea for every problem in the area of human health and personalized medicine. Whilst in some areas of research omics showed immediate results, in other fields, including asthma, it only allowed us to identify the incredibly complicated molecular processes. Along with their possibilities, omics technologies also bring many issues connected to sample collection, analyses and interpretation. It is often impossible to separate the intrinsic imperfection of omics from asthma heterogeneity. Still, many insights and directions from applied omics were acquired-presumable phenotypic clusters of patients, plausible biomarkers and potential pathways involved. Omics technologies develop rapidly, bringing improvements also to asthma research. These improvements, together with our growing understanding of asthma subphenotypes and underlying cellular processes, will likely play a role in asthma management strategies.