Physical activity and blood gene expression profiles: the Norwegian Women and Cancer (NOWAC) Post-genome cohort

OBJECTIVES: The influence of physical activity (PA) on the immune system has emerged as a new field of research. Regular PA may promote an anti-inflammatory state in the body, thus contributing to the down-regulation of pro-inflammatory processes related to the onset and progression of multiple diseases. We aimed to assess whether overall PA levels were associated with differences in blood gene expression profiles, in a cohort of middle-aged Norwegian women. We used information from 977 women included in the Norwegian Women and Cancer (NOWAC) Post-genome cohort. Information on PA and covariates was extracted from the NOWAC database. Blood samples were collected using the PAXgene Blood RNA collection system, and gene expression profiles were measured using Illumina microarrays. The R-package limma was used for the single-gene level analysis. For a target gene set analysis, we used the global test R-package with 48 gene sets, manually curated from the literature and relevant molecular databases. RESULTS: We found no associations between overall PA levels and gene expression profiles at the single-gene level. Similarly, no gene sets reached statistical significance at adjusted p < 0.05. In our analysis of healthy, middle-aged Norwegian women, self-reported overall PA was not associated with differences in blood gene expression profiles.