Towards precision medicine in equine asthma through multi-omics data integration.

Equine asthma is a complex disease that affects both companion and sport horses, leading to coughing, airway obstruction, and reduced athletic performance.

It is a common and multifaceted condition influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, including stable conditions and feed quality. Currently, equine asthma is categorized into two groups: severe and mild to moderate.

However, there are no definitive criteria or biomarkers to differentiate between them, and it is likely that additional subtypes of equine asthma exist under the asthma umbrella term.

To gain a more holistic understanding of equine asthma, the proposed project aims to collect information from several molecular layers in asthma and healthy horses, including transcriptomics, methylomics, and metabolomics.

Integrated multi-omics technologies and machine learning will then be used to identify and characterize distinct subtypes of the disease and define key biomarker signatures associated with the severity of symptoms and treatment response.