ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2021
Large-scale genomic study reveals robust activation of the immune system following advanced Inner Engineering meditation retreat.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT06583395 (Effects Of Meditation On The Gut Microbiome And Human Health and Disease), which is not on this map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Effects Of Meditation On The Gut Microbiome And Human Health and Disease
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- The underexplored links between cancer and the internal body climate: Implications for cancer prevention and treatment.Frontiers in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- Isha yoga practices, vegan diet, and participation in Samyama meditation retreat: impact on the gut microbiome & metabolome - a non-randomized trial.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2023Trial
- Non-duality in brain and experience of advanced meditators-key role for intrinsic neural timescales.Communications biology · 2026Article
- DNA methylation mediates MBSR induced cardioprotection in patients after PCI.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Status of evidence on efficacy and safety of Indian traditional medicine (Ayush) for COVID-19: a qualitative review and evidence map synthesis.Systematic reviews · 2026Review
- Advancing Gastrointestinal Microbiota Research in Systemic Sclerosis: Lessons Learned from Prior Research and Opportunities to Accelerate Discovery.Rheumatic diseases clinics of North America · 2025Review
- Mind-body therapies and their interplay with the immune system in children and adolescents: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2025Article
- Dynamic human gut microbiome and immune shifts during an immersive psychosocial intervention program.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2025Observational
- The immunological perspective of major depressive disorder: unveiling the interactions between central and peripheral immune mechanisms.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2025Review
- Reducing healthcare burnout through meditation: benefits and challenges.Cogent mental health · 2025Review
- Discussion on the Application of Mindfulness Therapy in the Treatment of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy: A Narrative Review.Psychology research and behavior management · 2025Review
- Article
- Multidimensional Analysis of Twin Sets During an Intensive Week-Long Meditation Retreat: A Pilot Study.Mindfulness · 2025Article
- Dynamic Human Gut Microbiome and Immune Shifts During an Immersive Psychosocial Therapeutic Program.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Practice and proficiency of Isha Yoga for better mental health outcomes: insights from a COVID-19 survey.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- Oxygen therapy attenuates neuroinflammation after spinal cord injury.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2023Article
- Molecular Mechanisms for Changing Brain Connectivity in Mice and Humans.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- Meditation-induced bloodborne factors as an adjuvant treatment to COVID-19 disease.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2023Article
- Article
- Targeting and Monitoring Acute Myeloid Leukaemia with Nucleophosmin-1 (International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The positive impact of meditation on human well-being is well documented, yet its molecular mechanisms are incompletely understood. We applied a comprehensive systems biology approach starting with whole-blood gene expression profiling combined with multilevel bioinformatic analyses to characterize the coexpression, transcriptional, and protein-protein interaction networks to identify a meditation-specific core network after an advanced 8-d Inner Engineering retreat program. We found the response to oxidative stress, detoxification, and cell cycle regulation pathways were down-regulated after meditation. Strikingly, 220 genes directly associated with immune response, including 68 genes related to interferon signaling, were up-regulated, with no significant expression changes in the inflammatory genes. This robust meditation-specific immune response network is significantly dysregulated in multiple sclerosis and severe COVID-19 patients. The work provides a foundation for understanding the effect of meditation and suggests that meditation as a behavioral intervention can voluntarily and nonpharmacologically improve the immune response for treating various conditions associated with excessive or persistent inflammation with a dampened immune system profile.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.