Beyond epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition: Common suppression of differentiation programs underlies epithelial barrier dysfunction in mild, moderate, and severe asthma.

The comparative analysis of publically available transcriptomes demonstrated that epithelial barrier dysfunction in asthma is characterized by persistent underlying de-differentiation program with complex etiology. The lasting alteration of the asthmatic epithelial cell transcriptome implicates regulation involving metabolism and epigenetics, beyond EMT driven by injury and repair in chronic inflammation.