High-intensity interval trainingHigh-intensity interval training is a form of exercise training characterized by bursts of high-intensity activity followed by less intense recovery periods.

Exercise provides a robust physiological stimulus that evokes cross-talk among multiple tissues that when repeated regularly (i.e., training) improves physiological capacity, benefits numerous organ systems, and decreases the risk for premature mortality. However, a gap remains in identifying the detailed molecular signals induced by exercise that benefits health and prevents disease. The Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) was established to address this gap and generate a molecular map of exercise. Preclinical and clinical studies will examine the systemic effects of endurance and resistance exercise across a range of ages and fitness levels by molecular probing of multiple tissues before and after acute and chronic exercise. From this multi-omic and bioinformatic analysis, a molecular map of exercise will be established. Altogether, MoTrPAC will provide a public database that is expected to enhance our understanding of the health benefits of exercise and to provide insight into how physical activity mitigates disease.

High-throughput proteomic profiling using antibody or aptamer-based affinity reagents is used increasingly in human studies. However, direct analyses to address the relative strengths and weaknesses of these platforms are lacking. We assessed findings from the SomaScan1.3K ( N = 1301 reagents), the SomaScan5K platform ( N = 4979 reagents), and the Olink Explore ( N = 1472 reagents) profiling techniques in 568 adults from the Jackson Heart Study and 219 participants in the HERITAGE Family Study across four performance domains: precision, accuracy, analytic breadth, and phenotypic associations leveraging detailed clinical phenotyping and genetic data. Across these studies, we show evidence supporting more reliable protein target specificity and a higher number of phenotypic associations for the Olink platform, while the Soma platforms benefit from greater measurement precision and analytic breadth across the proteome.

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Background: Plasma proteins are critical mediators of cardiovascular processes and are the targets of many drugs. Previous efforts to characterize the genetic architecture of the plasma proteome have been limited by a focus on individuals of European descent and leveraged genotyping arrays and imputation. Here we describe whole genome sequence analysis of the plasma proteome in individuals with greater African ancestry, increasing our power to identify novel genetic determinants. Methods: Proteomic profiling of 1,301 proteins was performed in 1852 Black adults from the Jackson Heart Study using aptamer-based proteomics (SomaScan ® ). Whole genome sequencing association analysis was ascertained for all variants with minor allele count ≥ 5. Results were validated using an alternative, antibody-based, proteomic platform (Olink ® ) as well as replicated in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and the HERITAGE Family Study. Results: We identify 569 genetic associations between 479 proteins and 438 unique genetic regions at a Bonferroni-adjusted significance level of 3.8 × 10 −11 . These associations include 114 novel locus-protein relationships and an additional 217 novel sentinel variant-protein relationships. Novel cardiovascular findings include new protein associations at the APOE gene locus including ZAP70 (sentinel single nucleotide polymorphism [SNP] rs7412-T, β = 0.61±0.05, p-value = 3.27 × 10 −30 ) and MMP-3 (β = -0.60±0.05, p = 1.67 × 10 −32 ), as well as a completely novel pleiotropic locus at the HPX gene, associated with nine proteins. Further, the associations suggest new mechanisms of genetically mediated cardiovascular disease linked to African ancestry; we identify a novel association between variants linked to APOL1 associated chronic kidney and heart disease and the protein CKAP2 (rs73885319-G, β = 0.34±0.04, p = 1.34 × 10 −17 ) as well as an association between ATTR amyloidosis and RBP4 levels in community dwelling individuals without heart failure. Conclusions: Taken together, these results provide evidence for the functional importance of variants in non-European populations, and suggest new biological mechanisms for ancestry-specific determinants of lipids, coagulation and myocardial function.