Longitudinal Multi-omics Profiling in Response to Exercise in Healthy and Prediabetic Individuals

Kevin Contrepois, Ph.D. - Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USA

Abstract (300 word limit)

Lack of physical activity (PA) has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality (WHO, 2009) and a major contributor to disability from non-communicable diseases such as metabolic disorders (e.g., type 2 diabetes, T2D), cardiovascular, neurological diseases, and cancer. Conversely, PA has multiple physiological benefits (physically and mentally) and effectively prevents and treats non-communicable diseases. Despite undisputable evidence that regular PA has a profound beneficial impact, the molecular mechanisms by which PA promotes human health remains poorly understood and have not been characterized at a personalized level. In this context, we present an integrated Personal Omics Profiling (iPOP) for the comprehensive molecular profiling of blood-based analytes that we apply to track the molecular changes associated with exercise.

Multi-omic profiling (transcriptome, proteome, immunome, metabolome, and lipidome, etc.) revealed significant differences between prediabetics and healthy controls at rest, implicating pathways related to chronic inflammation and insulin regulation as well as novel connections to T2D. Participants went throught an acute bout of exercise (maximal cardiopulmonary exercise) that was followed by a dense sampling at 2 min, 15 min, 30 min, 1h, 2h, 4h, 6h and 24h post-exercise. The exercise perturbation was associated with a wealth of biomolecular changes spanning multiple omes that culminated at 15 min post-exercise including inflammation, glucose and energy metabolism. Interestingly, the omic response to exercise differed between prediabetics and healthy controls.

This study represents the most in-depth profiling of molecular changes associated with exercise and may offer new strategies for preventing and treating T2D.