Effect of a 1-week mind-body intervention retreat on exosome-derived miRNA for 21 healthy human participants
We employed  exosome-specific small RNA transcriptomics to analyze extracellular RNA (exRNA) profiles in human plasma-derived exosomes isolated via differential ultracentrifugation. Total exRNAs were extracted, quantified, and used to generate small RNA libraries, targeting transcripts between 16-120 nucleotides for sequencing on an Illumina NovaSeq X Plus platform. Sequencing reads were processed using Cutadapt, STAR aligner, and MultiQC, and differential expression analysis was conducted using EdgeR, applying TMM normalization and a paired negative binomial generalized linear model to assess intervention effects. Functional annotation of differentially expressed exRNAs was performed using ClusterProfiler and Reactome Pathways. The analysis accounted for participant-specific factors such as experience level, sex, and age. This is the first study to analyze human exosomal RNA changes following an intensive mind-body (meditation, reconceptualization, open label placebo healing ritual) intervention. Overall design: Exosomes were isolated from whole plasma from 21 human participants (15 females; mean age=46 yrs.) before ("pre") and after ("post") a 6-day intensive mind-body retreat, and miRNAseq was performed on an Illumina NovaSeq X Plus platform.