Vijayendran Chandran: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610; vijayendran@ufl.edu. ORCID
Mei-Ling Bermúdez: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610. ORCID
Mert Koka: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610. ORCID
Brindha Chandran: Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32610.
Dhanashri Pawale: Department of Anesthesia, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
Ramana Vishnubhotla: Department of Anesthesia, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202. ORCID
Suresh Alankar: Vascular Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40202.
Raj Maturi: Department of Ophthalmology, Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202. ORCID
Balachundhar Subramaniam: Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet, Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA 02215.
Senthilkumar Sadhasivam: Department of Anesthesia, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
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.
