Bariatric surgery remodels DNA methylation and gene expression in skeletal muscle

Einleitung The most successful strategy to treat obesity and associated comorbidities is bariatric surgery. This intervention is known to decrease body weight and to improve whole-body insulin sensitivity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of our study was to evaluate if bariatric surgery can correct the expression and DNA methylation profiles in the skeletal muscle.

Methoden Genome-wide gene expression and DNA methylation were analyzed in skeletal muscle biopsies of 6 lean controls CON and 16 obese humans OB (OB; 38  ±  10 ys, BMI 44  ±  10 kg/m²), at baseline (OB 0 w) and 52 weeks after bariatric surgery (OB 52 w).

Ergebnisse The comparison of the muscle transcriptome of OB 0 w and CON revealed 1,037 differentially expressed genes which were enriched in lipid and reactive oxygen species pathways. At 52 w, the expression of the majority genes (765) was normalized to levels of the control group. Linking the DNA methylation changes induced by the bariatric surgery to gene expression demonstrated that 349 of 765 identified genes were normalized to the CON levels 52 w after the surgery.

Schlussfolgerung The transcriptome of skeletal muscle seems to benefit from the bariatric surgery and some changes appear to be mediated by DNA methylation.

Publication History

Article published online:
04 September 2020