DES and asthma: Finally, it was interesting to note that individuals with asthma with different levels of symptom control, as measured by ACT, had differential methylation in yet other genes, some of which were involved in development and airway remodeling, such as HOX family genes, integrins (ITGB5, ITGA6), desmin (DES), and endothelin (EDN1), suggesting that differential methylation of these genes may have an important role in daily symptoms and asthma control.