Skeletal muscle and intermuscular adipose tissue gene expression profiling identifies new biomarkers with prognostic significance for insulin resistance progression and intervention response
Although insulin resistance often leads to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2D), its early stages remain often unrecognized thus reducing the probability of successful prevention and intervention. Moreover, treatment efficacy is affected by the genetics of the individual patient. To identify potential candidate genes for the prediction of diabetes risk and intervention response we linked genetic expression profiles of human skeletal muscle and intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) to fasting glucose (FG) and glucose infusion rate (GIR). We found that genes with a strong association to these measures clustered into three distinct expression patterns. Their predictive values for insulin resistance varied strongly between muscle and IMAT. Moreover, we discovered that individual genetic expression based classifications may differ from those classifications based predominantly on clinical parameters indicating a potential incomplete patient stratification. Out of the 15 top hit candidate genes, we identified ST3GAL2, AASS, ARF1 and the transcription factor SIN3A as novel candidates for a refined diabetes risk and intervention response prediction. Our results confirm that disease progression and a successful intervention depend on individual genetics. We anticipate that our findings may lead to a better understanding and prediction of the individual diabetes risk and may help to develop individualized intervention strategies.