Figure 2. Inhibition of the mTOR-related expression network is correlated with gains in lean mass following RET.

A) Quantitative SAM analysis was used to relate the change in RNA expression in response to 10 wk RET in 44 subjects. The change in gene expression was related to the change in lean mass (%) and a false discovery rate calculated based on permutation of the subject labels. Data were imported into IPA and 384 genes (FDR<5%) could be mapped to the data-base for up-stream analysis. An active rapamycin signature, equating to inhibition of mTOR signaling was discovered (Z-score = 2.8 for directional consistency; P-value for transcript overlap p = 1.4×10⁻³⁰). B) Given the strength of the negative statistical association between the rapamycin signature, we then plotted the data to establish the precise nature of the relationship. We presented the mean gains in lean mass by quartiles establishing that 25% of the subject demonstrated negligible changes in lean mass. C) We selected a representative subset of the genes from Figure 2A and plotted the mean changes with respect to lean mass changes. This established that those with the greatest lean mass actually had a reduction in mTOR related genes with RET and not simple a lesser increase as one might have expected from first inspection of Figure 2A.