Cytokines
diabetes
HYPERGLYCEMIA, DISEASE, TUMOR NECROSIS, DIABETES
Cytokine levels were produced by Olink using qPCR proximity extension assay (PEA). We evaluated the effect of the diets on the immune system by quantifying cytokines levels at baseline and comparing them to the end of the intervention, separately for each diet. Among participants on the PPT diet, one cytokine, stem cell factor (SCF), significantly increased (Bonferroni corrected It should be noted that the cytokine data had the smallest sample size, affecting the statistical power of the analysis. Therefore, we also applied a more lenient multiple hypothesis correction method—false discovery rate (FDR) with the same 0.05 alpha threshold. The FDR method showed in the PPT group there was also significant increase in chemokines CCL11 and CX3CL1 that are positively associated with diabetesIn the context of the Mediterranean diet, AXIN1 is known to increase tumor necrosis factor β1 (TGF-β1) which is associated with protective effects of the dietIn summary, our analysis shows both diets subsequently affect the microbiome, metabolites and cytokines, and while some changes are in the favorable direction, others indicate an underlying progression of the disease. The PPT diet resulted in greater change compared to the MED diet, as expected for a diet that constitutes a bigger difference from baseline. Some of the changes observed were previously associated with hyperglycemia, while others represent novel findings, such as the change in many unclassified species and uncharacterized biochemicals. These novel findings can be used as early markers and therapeutic targets for diabetes.