# Evaluating Longitudinal Relationships Between Circulating MicroRNAs and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes and Responses to Behavioral Interventions

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · 2020 · $201,875

## Abstract

Relationships Between Risk for Type 2 Diabetes, Restorative Yoga, and Circulating MicroRNAs
Project summary
Type 2 diabetes is priority for both public health and precision medicine. The etiology of type 2 diabetes is
complex and both genetic and behavioral/environmental factors contribute to risk. Current approaches to risk
prediction and risk reduction are limited because they fail to account for the interactions between risk factors.
MicroRNAs regulate expression of genes in response to behavioral and environmental exposures. Circulating
microRNAs, which are readily detectable in blood, are emerging as useful indicators of disease etiology and
show changes in response to the environment and behaviors. We previously showed that circulating
microRNAs are associated with risk for type 2 diabetes and response to an insulin sensitizing pharmacologic
agent. Our own prior studies and others have been cross-sectional and therefore provided limited information
about the insights that microRNAs may provide about the mechanisms underlying development of type 2
diabetes. The first aim of this study is to evaluate the trajectories of circulating microRNAs and fasting blood
glucose over time. We will measure microRNAs in banked plasma samples from participants in the the recently
completed 48-week NIH-funded randomized Practicing Restorative Yoga vs. Stretching for the Metabolic
Syndrome (PRYSMS) trial that tested the effect of restorative yoga on fasting blood glucose in individuals at
risk for type 2 diabetes (n=171). Participants in the restorative yoga group (n=88) had a significant decrease in
fasting blood glucose after 12 months compared to an active stretching control group. The existing phenotypic
data and biologic specimens collected at five time points in the PRYSMS trial provide an exceptional
opportunity to evaluate the relationships between longitudinal changes in both microRNAs and fasting blood
glucose in an extremely well characterized sample of individuals who underwent an intervention that
decreased their fasting blood glucose. The second aim of this study is to determine whether microRNAs
predict changes in fasting blood glucose after 12-months. Circulating microRNAs will be measured using a flow
cytometry-based direct detection assay followed by validation of significant targets by quantitative polymerase
chain reaction. This study will be the first to evaluate the relationships between circulating microRNAs and
fasting blood glucose over time. This knowledge will improve our understanding of inter-individual variability in
mechanisms underlying type 2 diabetes. These insights can be used to improve risk detection, risk
stratification, and optimization of risk reduction interventions based on individual biology.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9975150
- **Project number:** 5R21DK117346-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO
- **Principal Investigator:** Elena Flowers
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $201,875
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-20 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9975150

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9975150, Evaluating Longitudinal Relationships Between Circulating MicroRNAs and Risk for Type 2 Diabetes and Responses to Behavioral Interventions (5R21DK117346-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9975150. Licensed CC0.

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