Fig. 1

The overall workflow of the study. Initially, preprocessed, and normalized gene expression and DNA methylation data were downloaded and analyzed for differential methylation and expression analyses and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) to generate DEG and DMC modules associated with asthma severity and lung function. Then, both DEGs and DMCs (adjusted P value < 0.05) in modules significantly associated with asthma severity and lung function (P value < 0.05) were selected. Finally, key DMCs and DEGs were selected to develop asthma-risk prediction models (methylation-based risk score (MRS) and transcriptomic-based risk score (TRS). Mediation analysis was conducted to select DMCs regulated DEGs in BECs