Debley Lab

Investigating epithelial responses to viruses and signaling pathways regulating airway remodeling in childhood asthma

The Debley Lab conducts an array of patient-oriented mechanistic research using primary bronchial epithelial cells from carefully phenotyped, endotyped, and genotyped children with asthma and healthy children to investigate innate immune responses to respiratory viruses (e.g. human rhinovirus, RSV) and mechanisms underlying viral-triggered asthma exacerbations and airway remodeling. 

Research conducted in the Debley Lab seeks to investigate roles of airway epithelial cells in the pathobiology of asthma and other airway disease. Primary focus areas include:

1. Improve understanding of the heterogeneity of airway epithelial interferon responses to respiratory viruses in asthmatic and healthy children and how deficient or excessive interferon responses impact the risk of asthma exacerbations, airway remodeling responses and lung function.
2. Investigate airway epithelial cell signaling pathways that regulate responses by immune cells (e.g. mast cells, eosinophils, T cells) and neighboring stromal cells (e.g. fibroblasts/smooth muscle cells) and how such pathways are dysregulated in asthma leading to airway remodeling and lung function abnormalities in epithelial cell donors.

Dr. Debley’s research program has obtained primary bronchial and nasal epithelial cells from children with and without asthma who are undergoing elective surgical procedures at Seattle Children’s Hospital since 2007. This infrastructure is a unique resource in the U.S., providing a steady source of primary bronchial airway epithelial cells from carefully characterized children to conduct mechanistic investigations (stratified by donor clinical characteristics such as lung function, exacerbation history, endotype and disease severity) to better understand the role of the epithelium in childhood asthma and responses to viral infection in health and disease.

Model systems used by the Debley Lab provide an ideal platform to test disease mechanisms, improve understanding of innate immune responses at the respiratory mucosal surface as well as to screen potential therapeutics in human cells from carefully clinically characterized, endotyped and genotyped children.