Chandran, VijayendranBermúdez, Mei-LingKoka, MertChandran, BrindhaPawale, DhanashriVishnubhotla, RamanaAlankar, SureshMaturi, RajSubramaniam, BalachundharSadhasivam, Senthilkumar2023-07-072023-07-072021Chandran V, Bermúdez ML, Koka M, et al. Large-scale genomic study reveals robust activation of the immune system following advanced Inner Engineering meditation retreat. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021;118(51):e2110455118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2110455118https://hdl.handle.net/1805/34244The positive impact of meditation on human well-being is well documented, yet its molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. We applied a comprehensive systems biology approach starting with whole-blood gene expression profiling combined with multilevel bioinformatic analyses to characterize the coexpression, transcriptional, and protein-protein interaction networks to identify a meditation-specific core network after an advanced 8-d Inner Engineering retreat program. We found the response to oxidative stress, detoxification, and cell cycle regulation pathways were down-regulated after meditation. Strikingly, 220 genes directly associated with immune response, including 68 genes related to interferon signaling, were up-regulated, with no significant expression changes in the inflammatory genes. This robust meditation-specific immune response network is significantly dysregulated in multiple sclerosis and severe COVID-19 patients. The work provides a foundation for understanding the effect of meditation and suggests that meditation as a behavioral intervention can voluntarily and nonpharmacologically improve the immune response for treating various conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation with a dampened immune system profile.en-USPublisher PolicyMeditationImmuneIsha yogaInner EngineeringCOVID-19Article