Kalafati M, Kutmon M, Evelo CT, van der Kallen CJH, Schalkwijk CG, Stehouwer CDA, Consortium BIOS, Blaak EE, van Greevenbroek MMJ, Adriaens M. An interferon-related signature characterizes the whole blood transcriptome profile of insulin-resistant individuals—the CODAM study.
GENES & NUTRITION 2021;
16:22. [PMID:
34886800 PMCID:
PMC8903498 DOI:
10.1186/s12263-021-00702-7]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 11/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Background
Worldwide, the prevalence of obesity and insulin resistance has grown dramatically. Gene expression profiling in blood represents a powerful means to explore disease pathogenesis, but the potential impact of inter-individual differences in a cell-type profile is not always taken into account. The objective of this project was to investigate the whole blood transcriptome profile of insulin-resistant as compared to insulin-sensitive individuals independent of inter-individual differences in white blood cell profile.
Results
We report a 3% higher relative amount of monocytes in the insulin-resistant individuals. Furthermore, independent of their white blood cell profile, insulin-resistant participants had (i) higher expression of interferon-stimulated genes and (ii) lower expression of genes involved in cellular differentiation and remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton.
Conclusions
We present an approach to investigate the whole blood transcriptome of insulin-resistant individuals, independent of their DNA methylation-derived white blood cell profile. An interferon-related signature characterizes the whole blood transcriptome profile of the insulin-resistant individuals, independent of their white blood cell profile. The observed signature indicates increased systemic inflammation possibly due to an innate immune response and whole-body insulin resistance, which can be a cause or a consequence of insulin resistance. Altered gene expression in specific organs may be reflected in whole blood; hence, our results may reflect obesity and/or insulin resistance-related organ dysfunction in the insulin-resistant individuals.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12263-021-00702-7.
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