Clinical Centers for the Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP) (U10)

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Purpose. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute invites to participate as a Clinical Center in the NHLBI Severe Asthma Research Program (SARP). Accumulating evidence suggests that severe asthma is complex and phenotypically heterogeneous across individuals and time. Not knowing the underlying mechanisms and stability of these sub-phenotypes impedes the development of effective treatments and management strategies. This phase of SARP will develop a new paradigm for understanding severe asthma and its sub-phenotypes, in children and adults, by defining disease at the molecular and cellular level longitudinally. The new SARP investigators will use mechanistic and evoked phenotype approaches to characterize developmental molecular, cellular and physiologic phenotypes in children and adults with mild to severe asthma and to further elucidate the evolving pathobiology and pathogenesis of severe asthma and its sub-phenotypes. SARP investigators will work together to identify the important research questions that require a shared longitudinal protocol which will be conducted across all participating centers and which will include common information on all SARP participants. In addition, SARP investigators will identify mechanistic research questions separate from those proposed for the shared longitudinal protocol which may be investigated using the shared protocol or in participants from one or more centers. The overall aim is to enable prediction of phenotype stability / fluctuation and pharmacologic response, and to identify novel, disease-modifying targets for treatment. This longitudinal mechanistic research approach will provide integrated understanding of the fixed and variable molecular, cellular, and pathophysiologic underpinnings of severe asthma sub-phenotypes. Cross-sectional studies or therapeutic trials are not the intent of this FOA. This program will require multidisciplinary research collaboration and partnerships between asthma clinician-scientists and scientists with expertise in areas such as immunology, pulmonary physiology, molecular genetics, molecular phenotyping, imaging, and bioinformatics. SARP will consist of up to six Clinical Centers, a Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC), and a Steering Committee. This FOA solicits applications for Clinical Centers and runs parallel with a separate FOA that solicits applications for the Clinical Coordinating Center (see RFA-HL-11-030).

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