Potential effect of exercise in ameliorating insulin resistance at transcriptome level

BACKGROUND : Insulin resistance can lead to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes and exercise can increase insulin sensitivity. And different exercises may have different influences on the mitigation of insulin resistance. It is still unclear how exercise affects inherited insulin resistance at transcriptome level. The purpose of our study was to analyze the potential effects of exercise in ameliorating insulin resistance at transcriptome level. METHODS: Herein, we analyzed two skeletal muscle transcriptome profiles, including gene profiles between inherited insulin resistant patients and matched healthy controls, and between trained and sedentary subjects (young and old subjects, respectively). RESULTS: Analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed that 12 genes (SGK1, LOC101929876, MYL5, COL6A3, MLF1, LUM, MSTN, COL1A2, COL3A1, IL32, IRS2, and ID1) associated with insulin resistance were reversed by exercise in young subjects, while six genes (MSTN, CFHR1, PFKFB3, IL32, RGCC, and NMRK2) were identified in old subjects, suggesting that those genes play potential roles in insulin resistance response to exercise. In addition, we observed that two insulin resistance-related genes, MSTN and IL32, were identified in muscle cells of both young and old subjects, indicating their important roles in the mechanisms behind the beneficial effects of exercise on humans with inherited insulin resistance. Several pathways were also identified, such as collagen metabolic process, focal adhesion, and negative regulation of myoblast differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings provide novel markers in insulin resistant patients and exercise, and some valuable information for future functional studies on how exercise ameliorating insulin resistance.