Journal
PSYCHONEUROENDOCRINOLOGY
Volume 38, Issue 3, Pages 348-355Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2012.06.011
Keywords
Dementia caregiver; Stress; Kirtan Kriya; Yoga; Meditation; Relaxation; NF-kappa B; Genomics; Gene expression profiling; Microarray
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Funding
- Forest Research Institute
- Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation grant
- NIH [MH077650, MH086481, AT003480, R01-AG034588, R01-AG026364, R01-CA119159, R01-HL079955, R01 HL095799, P30-AG028748]
- UCLA CTSI [UL1TR000124]
- Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at the Semel Institute for Neurosciences
- UCLA Older Americans Independence Center Inflammatory Biology Core
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Background: Although yoga and meditation have been used for stress reduction with reported improvement in inflammation, little is known about the biological mechanisms mediating such effects. The present study examined if a yogic meditation might alter the activity of inflammatory and antiviral transcription control pathways that shape immune cell gene expression. Methods: Forty-five family dementia caregivers were randomized to either Kirtan Kriya Meditation (KKM) or Relaxing Music (RM) listening for 12 min daily for 8 weeks and 39 caregivers completed the study. Genome-wide transcriptional profiles were collected from peripheral blood leukocytes sampled at baseline and 8-week follow-up. Promoter-based bioinformatics analyses tested the hypothesis that observed transcriptional alterations were structured by reduced activity of the pro-inflammatory nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B family of transcription factors and increased activity of Interferon Response Factors (IRFs; i.e., reversal of patterns previously linked to stress). Results: In response to KKM treatment, 68 genes were found to be differentially expressed (19 up-regulated, 49 down-regulated) after adjusting for potentially confounded differences in sex, illness burden, and BMI. Up-regulated genes included immunoglobulin-related transcripts. Down-regulated transcripts included pro-inflammatory cytokines and activation-related immediate-early genes. Transcript origin analyses identified plasmacytoid dendritic cells and B lymphocytes as the primary cellular context of these transcriptional alterations (both p < .001). Promoter-based bioinformatic analysis implicated reduced NF-kappa B signaling and increased activity of IRF1 in structuring those effects (both p < .05). Conclusion: A brief daily yogic meditation intervention may reverse the pattern of increased NF-kappa B-related transcription of pro-inflammatory cytokines and decreased IRF1-related transcription of innate antiviral response genes previously observed in healthy individuals confronting a significant life stressor. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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