Dissecting the cellular landscape of equine asthma using single cell genomics.

Respiratory disorders in horses (equine asthma) constitute a major problem in the equine industry and for horse welfare.

Thus, novel research strategies which lead to better understanding of disease and ultimately lead to enhanced diagnostic precision and better prediction of therapy outcome is warranted.

Similar to human asthma, different disease phenotypes are recognized in equine asthma based on clinical symptoms and age of presentation, some of which are associated with specific inflammatory cell-types that reside in the lungs.

However, our current understanding of cell "type" is mainly based on measurements from mixtures of cells in bulk samples, which average inter-cellular differences and prohibits detection of rare cell types or previously unknown cell types.

In this project we will apply single-cell transcriptomics to analyze of several hundred thousand individual cells, sampled from the alveolar space and airway wall of horses suffering from equine asthma and healthy controls. In addition we will investigate the transcriptional response to treatment at single-cell level.

A comprehensive atlas of the landscape of cells in the airways of horses in equine asthma will lead to improved understanding of the inflammatory processes implicated in the disease and clarify differences between equine asthma phenotypes. Ultimately this will research lead to improved disease classification, diagnostic precision and therapy strategies.