ArticleBMC pediatrics2017
Reduced PRF1 enhancer methylation in children with a history of severe RSV bronchiolitis in infancy: an association study.
Article in BMC pediatrics, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Early-life respiratory syncytial virus infection and asthma.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2026Review
- Unraveling the layers of epigenetic control in respiratory antiviral defense.Journal of virology · 2026Review
- The epigenetic-immune-microbiome axis in early life: reprogramming the origins and endotypes of pediatric asthma.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Analysis of DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha expression during respiratory syncytial virus strain A infection.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Harnessing Epigenetics: Innovative Approaches in Diagnosing and Combating Viral Acute Respiratory Infections.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Respiratory infection- and asthma-prone, low vaccine responder children demonstrate distinct mononuclear cell DNA methylation pathways.Clinical epigenetics · 2024Article
- Respiratory Infection- and Asthma-prone, Low Vaccine Responder Children Demonstrate Distinct Mononuclear Cell DNA Methylation Pathways.Research square · 2024Article
- Epigenome-wide association analysis of infant bronchiolitis severity: a multicenter prospective cohort study.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Epigenetic regulation of pediatric and neonatal immune responses.Pediatric research · 2022Review
- Role and Diagnostic Performance of Host Epigenome in Respiratory Morbidity after RSV Infection: The EPIRESVi Study.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Observational
- Decoding Susceptibility to Respiratory Viral Infections and Asthma Inception in Children.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Factors Affecting the Immunity to Respiratory Syncytial Virus: From Epigenetics to Microbiome.Frontiers in immunology · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcute lower respiratory tract infection is the commonest disease affecting children under five worldwide. Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is among the most common causative pathogens. Epidemiological data suggest an association between severe viral respiratory infections in infancy and increased incidence of childhood wheeze and asthma. DNA methylation is involved in immune cell differentiation and identity. It provides an avenue for environmental influences on the genome and therefore has potential as a marker for sustained effects of infectious insults. In this study we investigated the association between DNA methylation patterns in the perforin gene (PRF1) in childhood and a history of hospitalisation for severe RSV disease in the first two years of life.
methodsIn this retrospective study, we explored patterns of whole blood DNA methylation at a methylation sensitive region of the proximal PRF1 enhancer in a group of children with a record of hospitalisation for severe RSV disease during infancy (n = 43) compared to healthy controls matched for age and sex with no similar hospitalisation history, no allergy and no persistent wheeze (n = 43). Univariate and bivariate conditional logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the association between PRF1 enhancer methylation and record of hospitalisation for RSV disease.
resultsChildren with a record of hospitalisation for severe RSV bronchiolitis demonstrated markedly lower levels of DNA methylation at two cytosine-phosphate-guanine dinucleotide (CpG) loci of the PRF1 proximal enhancer, corresponding to a signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (STAT5) responsive element, compared to controls, adjusted odds ratios of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.71, 0.94) and 0.73 (95% CI 0.58, 0.92) for each 1% increase in DNA methylation. Smoking in the household showed a significant influence on DNA methylation at the assayed positions.
conclusionsOur findings support an association between childhood DNA methylation patterns in PRF1 and a record of severe RSV infection in infancy. Longitudinal studies are required to establish the utility of PRF1 methylation as a marker of severe RSV disease.
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