Effects of 20-week exercise on whole-blood genome-wide DNA methylation profile in children with overweight/obesity. Effects of 20-week exercise on whole-blood genome-wide DNA methylation profile in children with overweight/obesity

In this project, the effects of a 20-week exercise intervention on whole blood genome-wide DNA methylation signatures (CpG sites level) in boys and girls with overweight/obesity (OW/OB) were investigated. Twenty-three children (10.05 ± 1.39 years, 56% girls) with OW/OB, were randomized to either a 20-week exercise intervention (exercise group [EG]; n=10; 4 boys/ 6 girls), or to usual lifestyle (control group [CG] (n=13; 6 boys/ 7 girls). Whole blood genome-wide DNA methylation and transcriptome profile (RNA-seq) analyses were performed before and after the intervention period. Changes in the DNA methylation sites of 485 and 386 CpGs were induced by the exercise intervention (compared to the control group) in boys and girls respectively (p 0.05). This multi-omics approach reveals that exercise may regulate gene pathways involved in metabolism and immune functions in blood cells of boys and girls with OW/OB. These preliminary results provide an important first step to characterize the molecular response to exercise interventions in pediatric populations. Overall design: Bisulphite converted DNA from the 23 individual in two time points (baseline and t1; 46 samples) were hybridised to the Infinium Methylation EPIC array (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA).