Multiomics Data Triangulation for Asthma Candidate Biomarkers and Precision Medicine

Asthma is a common complex disorder and has been subject to intensive omics research for disease susceptibility and therapeutic innovation. Candidate biomarkers of asthma and its precision treatment demand that they stand the test of multiomics data triangulation before they can be prioritized for clinical applications. We classified the biomarkers of asthma after a search of the literature and based on whether or not a given biomarker candidate is reported in multiple omics platforms and methodologies, using PubMed and Web of Science, we identified omics studies of asthma conducted on diverse platforms using keywords, such as asthma, genomics, metabolomics, and epigenomics. We extracted data about asthma candidate biomarkers from 73 articles and developed a catalog of 190 potential asthma biomarkers (167 human, 23 animal data), comprising DNA loci, transcripts, proteins, metabolites, epimutations, and noncoding RNAs. The data were sorted according to 13 omics types: genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, interactomics, metabolomics, ncRNAomics, glycomics, lipidomics, environmental omics, pharmacogenomics, phenomics, and integrative omics. Importantly, we found that 10 candidate biomarkers were apparent in at least two or more omics levels, thus promising potential for further biomarker research and development and precision medicine applications. This multiomics catalog reported herein for the first time contributes to future decision-making on prioritization of biomarkers and validation efforts for precision medicine in asthma. The findings may also facilitate meta-analyses and integrative omics studies in the future.