Research

Hormonal

Skeletal muscle transcriptomic profiling, specifically focusing on a core set of 332 insulin-sensitive genes (CORE-IS) and non-coding RNAs, provides a robust molecular signature for metabolic disease that correlates with genetic loci identified by GWAS and responds to clinical interventions.

This research does not offer a direct lifestyle or supplement intervention. Instead, it highlights that current genetic testing (GWAS) is insufficient for predicting metabolic disease risk without functional data. It suggests that future diagnostics may rely on gene expression profiles (transcriptomics) from muscle tissue to accurately assess insulin sensitivity and metabolic health, potentially guiding personalized treatment strategies for type 2 diabetes and obesity.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
we identified 332 fasting IS-related genes (CORE-IS). Over 200 had a proven role in the biochemistry of insulin and/or metabolism or were located at GWAS MD loci. Over 50% of the CORE-IS genes responded to clinical treatment; 16 quantitatively tracking changes in IS across four independent studies
James A. Timmons et al. · Nucleic Acids Research · 2018

Why this rating

Large sample size (n=1,012), multi-cohort meta-analysis, rigorous statistical filtering (FDR), and validation across multiple independent intervention studies.

Source

A coding and non-coding transcriptomic perspective on the genomics of human metabolic disease

James A. Timmons et al. · Nucleic Acids Research · 2018

DOI 10.1093/nar/gky570

Meta-analysis · 10 studiesCited 78×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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