Abstract 15399: Proteomic Landscape of Plasma Lipoprotein Responses to Regular Exercise

Introduction: Lipoproteins are among the strongest predictors of CVD and are altered through regular exercise. However, the molecular changes underlying the potential benefits of exercise on plasma lipoproteins are unclear. Methods: Proteins (n=4979) were quantified from the plasma of 647 Black and White adults (56% women, mean age = 34.9 yrs) before and after 20-weeks of endurance exercise training using SomaScan. All subjects had complete data for 7 lipoprotein traits that improved with training: HDL-C, TG, large TG rich lipoprotein particles (LTRLP), small LDL particles (SLDLP), large HDL particles (LHDLP), TRLP size, and LDLP size. Fully adjusted linear mixed models were used to test the association of 1) baseline proteins with baseline lipoproteins and 2) delta proteins with delta lipoproteins (delta = post training - baseline value). Significance was determined as FDR<0.05. Results: We identified numerous proteins associated with baseline levels of at least one of the seven lipoprotein traits (range: 48-1099) and whose changes in response to regular exercise were associated with concomitant changes in lipoproteins (range: 4-95) ( Table 1 ). Substantial overlap was found between proteins associated with lipoproteins across timepoints, with 16 proteins associated with 4 or more lipoprotein traits at both timepoints. Plasma abundance of 12/16 proteins significantly changed with training (FDR <0.05). Additionally, for these proteins plasma abundance changed in concordance with the beneficial direction of the associated lipoprotein trait (e.g., proteins associated with atheroprotective lipoprotein traits increased with training and proteins associated with atherogenic traits decreased). Conclusions: Beneficial alterations to plasma lipoproteins with regular exercise are reflected in changes to the plasma proteome. Proteins identified here may represent novel markers of the benefits of regular exercise and of systemic lipoprotein metabolism.