Fig. 2

Changes in gene expression after cognitive behavioral therapy. A linear mixed effect model was fitted for each gene, estimating the fixed effect of CBT while accounting for random effects of the individual. The p-values for the fixed effect were estimated via Satterthwaite’s degrees of freedom method and FDR corrected. A Volcano plot of significance (−log10 of the nominal p-value) and the effect size for changed expression after 10 months of CBT. Genes for which the effect size of CBT is significant (FDR < 0.05) are visualized in black. B Heatmap of changes in normalized logCPM values between the baseline and the 10-month assessment for the 560 genes significantly associated with the CBT effect size (scores ranging from −3 (dark red) to +3 (dark blue)). Patients and genes were clustered based on the complete linkage method for hierarchical clustering, and values were centered and scaled per gene. For each patient, changes in DM1-Activ-c (delta-DM1-Activ-c) and Six-Minute Walk Test (delta-6MWT) as well as the compound response score were added (scores ranging from −1.6 (dark red) to +2.76 (dark blue)). Delta-DM1-Activ-c and delta-6MWT were scaled by their root mean square. C Expression values (logCPM) at baseline (blue) and after CBT (red) of the four genes with the lowest nominal p-values from panel A including their Pearson correlations