The researchers found cellular signatures that detect sleep apnea in children

Researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine have discovered how obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) changes the morphology of immune cells in the blood, resulting in a unique cellular signature that can accurately detect obstructive sleep apnea
in children.

22 million people in the United States have obstructive sleep apnea, including children
.
More than 10 percent of children snore habitually, a hallmark symptom of potentially obstructive sleep apnea, but only one in four to five children who snore actually has sleep apnea
.
Obstructive sleep apnea in children is associated with
a higher risk of cognitive, behavioral, metabolic, and cardiovascular complications in children.
The gold standard for diagnosis is a sleep study called polysomnography (PSG), which monitors brain waves, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, breathing, eye and leg movements
.
But the researchers found that blood tests may also provide a precise way
to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea.

Dr Rene Cortese, assistant professor in the Department of Child Health, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, said: "Our study found that obstructive sleep-disordered breathing leads to changes in the diversity of immune cells in the body that protect us from harmful viruses, bacteria and disease
.
"These changes have resulted in a unique genetic signature that can be used to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea with extreme precision
.
"

Cortese's team collected cell samples
from 11 children diagnosed with OSA by PSG and 11 asymptomatic, healthy children without OSA.
Using a method called single-cell transcriptional profiling, combined with traditional gene expression analysis, the team found a decrease
in the proportion of T-assisted immune cells in OSA patients.
The number of monocytes (a type of white blood cell) and atypical B cells (producers of antibodies against bacteria and viruses) also increased
in these patients.

"Based on these findings, we identified a molecular signature consisting of 32 genes that can distinguish children with sleep apnea syndrome from children without sleep apnea with high accuracy
," Cortese said.
"We then tested this signal array in another larger group of non-snoring and snoring children, assessing gene expression
with a less sophisticated technique.
However, the signature was able to identify children
with obstructive sleep apnea with more than 95% accuracy.
”

Cortese said: "This is a promising discovery that requires future validation to evaluate the performance of this gene signature and confirm its utility in the clinic
.
"

In addition to Cortese, the study's authors included University of Michigan colleagues Leila Kheirandish-Gozal, MD, director of the Institute for Child Health; David Gozal, M.
D.
, Marie M.
, and Harry L.
Smith, chair of the Children's Health Foundation.
Research expert Kylie Cataldo; Justin Hummel, Institute of
Data Science and Informatics.