Transcriptomic Response of Postprandial Blood, Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue and Muscle to a combined lifestyle intervention in older adults

Abstract

AbstractMolecular effects of lifestyle interventions are typically studied in a single tissue. Here, we investigated the sex-specific effects of the Growing Old TOgether (GOTO) study, a moderate 13-week combined lifestyle intervention on the transcriptomes of postprandial blood, subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) and muscle tissue in healthy older adults, the overlap in effect between tissues and their relation to whole-body parameters of metabolic health. The GOTO intervention had virtually no effect on the postprandial blood transcriptome, while the SAT and muscle transcriptomes responded significantly. In SAT, pathways involved in HDL remodeling, O2/CO2exchange and signaling were overrepresented, while in muscle, collagen and extracellular matrix pathways were significantly overexpressed. Additionally, we found that the effects of the SAT transcriptome closest associated with gains in metabolic health. Lastly, in males, we identified a shared variation between the transcriptomes of the three tissues. We conclude that the GOTO intervention had a significant effect on metabolic and muscle fibre pathways in the SAT and muscle transcriptome, respectively. Aligning the response in the three tissues revealed a blood transcriptome component which may act as an integrated health marker for metabolic intervention effects across tissues.