Researchers have identified a genetic signature for a severe, often painful food allergy—eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE)—that could lead it improved diagnosis and treatment for children unable to eat a variety of foods. The scientists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that they have pinpointed a dysregulated microRNA signature for EoE, a disease that also may cause weight loss, vomiting, heartburn and swallowing difficulties.
The dysregulated microRNA is reversible with steroid treatment, according to the study’s senior investigator, Marc E. Rothenberg, MD director of Allergy and Immunology and the Center for Eosinophilic Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s. MicroRNAs are short segments of RNA that can regulate whether genetic messengers (mRNAs) are degraded or translated into protein.