Effects of a healthy Nordic diet on gene expression changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to an oral glucose tolerance test in subjects with metabolic syndrome: a SYSDIET sub-study

Lena Leder; Marjukka Kolehmainen; Ingunn Narverud; Ingrid Dahlman; Mari C W Myhrstad; Vanessa D de Mello; Jussi Paananen; Carsten Carlberg; Ursula Schwab; Karl-Heinz Herzig; Lieselotte Cloetens; Matilda Ulmius Storm; Janne Hukkanen; Markku J Savolainen; Fredrik Rosqvist; Kjeld Hermansen; Lars O Dragsted; Ingibjörg Gunnarsdottir; Inga Thorsdottir; Ulf Risérus; Björn Åkesson; Magne Thoresen; Peter Arner; Kaisa S Poutanen; Matti Uusitupa; Kirsten B Holven; Stine M Ulven

doi:10.1186/s12263-016-0521-4

Effects of a healthy Nordic diet on gene expression changes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells in response to an oral glucose tolerance test in subjects with metabolic syndrome: a SYSDIET sub-study

Genes Nutr. 2016 Mar 17:11:3. doi: 10.1186/s12263-016-0521-4. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Lena Leder¹, Marjukka Kolehmainen², Ingunn Narverud¹, Ingrid Dahlman³, Mari C W Myhrstad⁴, Vanessa D de Mello², Jussi Paananen², Carsten Carlberg⁵, Ursula Schwab⁶, Karl-Heinz Herzig⁷, Lieselotte Cloetens⁸, Matilda Ulmius Storm⁸, Janne Hukkanen⁹, Markku J Savolainen⁹, Fredrik Rosqvist¹⁰, Kjeld Hermansen¹¹, Lars O Dragsted¹², Ingibjörg Gunnarsdottir¹³, Inga Thorsdottir¹³, Ulf Risérus¹⁰, Björn Åkesson¹⁴, Magne Thoresen¹⁵, Peter Arner³, Kaisa S Poutanen², Matti Uusitupa¹⁶, Kirsten B Holven¹⁷, Stine M Ulven¹⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1046, Blindern, 0317 Oslo Norway.
² Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
³ Department of Medicine (H7), Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Health, Nutrition and Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.
⁵ Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
⁶ Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland ; Institute of Clinical Medicine, Internal Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
⁷ Institute of Biomedicine and Biocenter of Oulu, Medical Research Centre Oulu, Oulu, Finland ; Department of Gastroenterology and Metabolism, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
⁸ Biomedical Nutrition, Pure and Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
⁹ Biocenter Oulu, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland ; Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland ; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
¹⁰ Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
¹¹ Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark.
¹² Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sport, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹³ Unit for Nutrition Research, University of Iceland and Landspitali - The National University Hospital of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
¹⁴ Biomedical Nutrition, Pure and Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden ; Department of Clinical Nutrition, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.
¹⁵ Department of Biostatistics, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁶ Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland ; Research Unit, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland.
¹⁷ Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1046, Blindern, 0317 Oslo Norway ; Norwegian National Advisory Unit on Familial Hypercholesterolemia, Department of Endocrinology, Morbid Obesity and Preventive Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁸ Department of Nutrition, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1046, Blindern, 0317 Oslo Norway ; Department of Health, Nutrition and Management, Faculty of Health Sciences, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Background: Diet has a great impact on the risk of developing features of metabolic syndrome (MetS), type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and cardiovascular diseases (CVD). We evaluated whether a long-term healthy Nordic diet (ND) can modify the expression of inflammation and lipid metabolism-related genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) during a 2-h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in individuals with MetS.

Methods: A Nordic multicenter randomized dietary study included subjects (n = 213) with MetS, randomized to a ND group or a control diet (CD) group applying an isocaloric study protocol. In this sub-study, we included subjects (n = 89) from three Nordic centers: Kuopio (n = 26), Lund (n = 30), and Oulu (n = 33) with a maximum weight change of ±4 kg, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentration ≤10 mg L(-1), and baseline body mass index <39 kg m(-2). PBMCs were isolated, and the mRNA gene expression analysis was measured by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). We analyzed the mRNA expression changes of 44 genes before and after a 2hOGTT at the beginning and the end of the intervention.

Results: The healthy ND significantly down-regulated the expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), interleukin 18 (IL18), and thrombospondin receptor (CD36) mRNA transcripts and significantly up-regulated the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (PPARD) mRNA transcript after the 2hOGTT compared to the CD.

Conclusions: A healthy ND is able to modify the gene expression in PBMCs after a 2hOGTT. However, more studies are needed to clarify the biological and clinical relevance of these findings.

Keywords: Metabolic syndrome; Nordic diet; OGTT; PBMCs; mRNA gene expression.