THE HIGH PLASTICITY OF HUMAN GENOME AND IMMUNE SYSTEM TO MIND-BODY INTERVENTIONS: NEW CHALLENGES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH CONTEXTS

Currently microarray DNA technology has made it possible to measure thousands of gene expressions simultaneously. Furthermore, chronic diseases, stress and psychiatric disorders can be understood as multi-factorial interactions between genes and environment. These interactions involve a special class of genes, described as activity or experience-dependent genes, which can be turned on or off by signals from the physical
and psychosocial environment. This study explores the hypothesis that a protocol “Mind-Body Transformation Therapy” (MBT-T), could modulate experience-dependent changes in gene expression in white blood
cells of 18 non-clinical participants. Peripheral blood was collected just before, immediately after the MBT-T
administration and 24 hours after. Changes in gene expression were assessed through microarray analysis.
200 genes were differentially expressed. Bioinformatic analysis revealed 4 significantly enriched pathways
associated with reducing cellular stress and inflammation. This study seems underline that exists a straight
communication between mind and gene especially when people live remarkable experience like MBT-T.
This data demonstrated high plasticity of human genome to mind-body interventions and that has many
implications for clinical psychology.