Jessy Deshane, PhD

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects millions in the U.S and worldwide. Obesity has emerged as a risk factor for severity of asthma. Recent studies have established that gut microbial signatures may predict risk for chronic lung diseases. This pilot study will evaluate if oral administration of over-the-counter probiotics may change respiratory microbial and metabolomic signatures to effect changes in proinflammatory biomarkers in asthmatics who are obese. The study will evaluate if obese asthmatics who take oral probiotics may see a change in insulin resistance and a reduction in asthma symptoms. Obese asthmatics with high insulin resistance will be recruited for the study and will be given oral probiotics or placebo controls for twelve weeks. Asthma biomarkers, microbial and metabolomic signatures, obesity indicators and insulin resistance will be measured at baseline and at the end of the study and compared between the two groups. The primary endpoints will be leptin levels, proinflammatory cytokines and microbiome or metabolome signatures.