Mindfulness meditation and gene expression: a hypothesis-generating framework

Social stressors alter immune response gene expression through signal transduction, a process by which extracellular signals trigger intracellular changes. Mindfulness meditation, a practice for cultivating attention and self-regulation, may influence this process by modulating brain activity patterns related to attention, self-regulation, and threat evaluation. The article reviews controlled trials on mindfulness meditation and gene expression, then proposes a conceptual model grounded in social genomics theory. It hypothesizes that mindfulness meditation could alter the signal transduction that regulates immune response gene expression, suggesting a potential mind-body pathway for stress-related cellular changes.

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Abstract

Recent research in functional genomics shows that social stressors affect the expression of immune response genes. These effects are mediated in part via our adaptive capacity for intracellular molecules to respond to extracellular signals, a process called signal transduction. Under this framework, one way stressors can be transduced into cellular changes is through central nervous system (CNS) modulation of peripheral neural, endocrine, and molecular activity. Mindfulness meditation is a consciousness discipline used to cultivate attention and self-regulation, and may thus be relevant to the signal transduction process outlined in the social genomics literature. In this opinion article, we briefly review results from existing controlled trials that test the effects of mindfulness meditation on gene expression. We then speculate on a mind-body conceptual model, grounded in existing social genomics theory. In the spirit of hypothesis generation, we argue that mindfulness meditation changes brain activity patterns related to attention, self-regulation, and threat evaluation and so may alter the signal transduction process that regulates the expression of immune response genes.