Browsing by Author "Bermúdez, Mei-Ling"

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    Large-scale genomic study reveals robust activation of the immune system following advanced Inner Engineering meditation retreat
    (National Academy of Science, 2021) Chandran, Vijayendran; Bermúdez, Mei-Ling; Koka, Mert; Chandran, Brindha; Pawale, Dhanashri; Vishnubhotla, Ramana; Alankar, Suresh; Maturi, Raj; Subramaniam, Balachundhar; Sadhasivam, Senthilkumar; Anesthesia, School of Medicine
    The 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.