Body mass index mediates inflammatory response to acute dietary challenges

Acute metabolic challenges provide an opportunity to identify mechanisms of metabolic and nutritional health. In this study, we assessed the transcriptomic response to oral glucose and lipid challenges in a cohort of individuals ranging in age and BMI. The main goal is to identify whether BMI can mediate the metabolic and transcriptional response to dietary challenges, and the differences between lipid and glucose tests.

Two hundred fourteen healthy adults were assigned to the challenges and twenty-three individuals were selected for further transcriptomic proofing, using microarray analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Through linear-mixed models and network analysis, different sets of transcripts and pathways were identified that responded to the challenges depending on BMI. Different transcripts that responded to the lipid and glucose tests, independently of BMI, were also identified. In the network analysis, inflammatory and adhesion processes were strongly represented for both challenges.

Our results indicate that BMI is strongly linked to the transcriptomic and metabolic response to acute challenges. The emerging biological processes are mainly inflammation-related pathways, highlighting an interconnection between obesity, inflammation/adhesion, and response to nutritional challenge. The comparison between lipid and glucose challenges shows how these trigger a substantially different molecular response.