Table 1.
Summary findings of the effects of acute and chronic exercise protocols in immune response.
| Type of study | Methods | Findings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | Exercise protocol | ||||||
| Type | Frequency | Intensity | Duration | ||||
| Philips et al. (113) | Cross-sectional study | 396 adults (ages 50–69 years) | General physical activities | 7 consecutive days | Moderate to vigorous physical activity | – | 30 min of the physical activity was associated with higher adiponectin and lower complement component C3, leptin, IL-6 and white blood cells concentrations. In obese subjects, moderate to vigorous physical activity was associated with lower white blood cells concentrations. |
| Edwards et al. (115) | Randomized controlled trial | 133 young healthy adults | Resistance training | 1 session | Sets of 30 seconds of exercise and 30 seconds of rest | 15 min per session | Exercise increased antibody levels. Therefore, these results indicate the effectiveness of exercise as a vaccine adjuvant. |
| Williams (117) | Cohort study | 109,352 runners and 40,798 walkers | Aerobic training | – | – | – | Higher doses of running and walking have decreased the respiratory disease mortality in 7.9% per MET-hour per day and 7.3% for all respiratory disease-related deaths. Pneumonia mortality decreased 13.1% per MET-hour per day, but also 10.5% per MET-hour per day for all pneumonia-related deaths. |
| Diment et al. (119) | Experimental | 64 healthy and recreationally active males |
Aerobic training | 1 session | 60% V˙ O2peak (30MI); 80% V˙ O2peak (30HI); 60% V˙ O2peak (30MI) | 30 min per session; 30 min per session; 120 min per session | Immune induction by DPCP was impaired just by 120 min per session group. |
| Mobius-Winkler (120) | Experimental | 18 healthy young men | Aerobic training | 1 session | 70% of their individual anaerobic threshold. | 240 min | A significant increase in leukocytes, as a very early rise in vascular endothelial growth factor and later increase in IL-6. All observed changes were normalized 24 hours after finishing the test. |
| Campbell et al. (122) | Experimental | 13 healthy and physically active males with age 20.9 ± 1.5 years old | Aerobic training | – | 35% Wattmax (low intensity exercise); and 85% Wattmax (high intensity exercise) |
20 min | High intensity exercise induced strong differential mobilization of CD8TL subsets that exhibit a high effector and tissue-migrating potential (RAEM > EM > CM > naïve). Increased NK cells mobilization attributed to increased CD56dim NK cells. |
| Nieman et al. (135) | Observational study | 1002 adults (ages 18–85 years, 60% female, 40% male) |
Aerobic training | – | – | 12 weeks | The number of days with URTI was significantly reduced, 43% in subjects reporting daily aerobic exercise compared to those who were largely sedentary and 46% when comparing subjects with low fitness routine. The URTI severity and symptomatology were also reduced 32% to 41% between high and low aerobic activity routine. |
| Matthews et al. (140) | Observational study | 547 healthy adults (49% women) aged 20–70 years old | Moderate-vigorous activity | – | – | – | The risk of URTI event was reduced by about 20% in men and women. |
| de Araujo et al. (145) | Cross-sectional | 61 healthy elderly men with 65-85 years | Sports, and Aerobic running (Volleyball, Basketball or Running) | ≥ 5 days/Week | Moderate, and Intense | Maintenance of active lifestyle for 5 years | Subjects who practiced moderate or intense physical training had long-standing antibody responses to the influenza vaccine components, resulting in higher percentages of seroprotection. |
| Bhatt et al. (147) | Prospective case control study | 30 cases and 30 case matched controls aged 18 years or more | Aerobic training | 2 days (Acute exercise) | Moderate (≥ 70% of max heart rate) | 10 minutes per session | The practice of early aerobic activity with a pedaler halves the rate of respiratory tract infection and postoperative hospitalization after complex abdominal surgery. In addition, in the subjective shortness of breath, there was also a reduction with the use of a pedal exerciser, meaning the potential to improve resistance to exercise in the postoperative patient. |
| Tyml et al. (152) | Animal study | Male C57BL/6 mice | Voluntary running wheel | 1-3 days per Week | High levels of voluntary physical activity | 8 weeks | Voluntary running has been able to protect against exacerbated sepsis induced by inflammatory and pro coagulant responses in aged mice. These were due to increased eNOS protein after running exercise. |
| Bigley et al. (168) | Randomized Trial | Twelve male and four female trained, and non-smoking cyclists | Aerobic training | 1-3 Weeks | Incremental protocol with power variation 5% to 15% | Continuous cycling for 30 minutes | Physical exercise was able to promote a preferential redistribution of subsets of NK cells with a highly differentiating phenotype and increases cytotoxicity against HLA expression target cells. |
| Baturcam et al. (173) | Experimental study | Adult male and female nondiabetic subjects | Aerobic and resistance training | 3 to 5 times per Week | Moderate (50 - 60% of max heart rate)/Vigorous (65 - 80% of max heart rate) | 3 months | Physical exercise significantly decreased expression of RANTES and CCR5 in adipose tissue of obese patients with concomitant reduction in TNF, IL-6, and p-JNK. |
| Yakeu et al. (174) | Experimental study | 17 healthy adults | Aerobic training | 3 times per Week | Low intensity (10.000 steps/week) | 8 weeks | Physical exercise was associated with the positive regulation of markers linked to the function of M2 macrophages, PGC-1α and PGC-1β. However, it negatively regulated the functionality of the M1 macrophage markers. In addition, plasma levels of Th2 cytokines increased after exercise, while those of Th1 cytokines decreased. |
| Barry et al. (175) | Randomized controlled trial | 37 inactive obese 30–65 years old | High Intense Interval Training (HIIT) and Moderate Intensity Continuous Training (MICT) | 5 times per week | – | 2 weeks (equivalent to 10 sessions) | Moderate-intensity continuous training decrease percentage of monocytes positives for receptor C-C motif chemokine receptor, reduced surfaced protein expression of C-X-C chemokine receptor on monocyte, in addition high intensity interval training increased protein expression and percentage CCR5 positive monocytes, T cells and neutrophils. |
| Wedell-Neergaard et al. (181) | Randomized controlled trial | 53 patient samples (27 exercise and 26 non-exercise) | Aerobic training | 3 times per Week | High intensity interval training (50 - 85% of VO2max) | 12 Weeks | Physical exercise reduced visceral fat. The effect of exercise was abolished in the presence of IL-6 blockade. Blocking IL-6 increased cholesterol levels, an effect not reversed by physical exercise. Therefore, IL-6 is necessary for exercise to reduce visceral fat tissue mass and emphasizes a potentially important metabolic consequence of IL-6 blockade |
IL-6, Interleukin 6; MET, Metabolic equivalent of task; DPCP, Diphenylcyclopropenone; RAEM, CD45RA+ effector-memory; EM, Effector memory; CM, Central memory; NK, Natural Killer; URTI, Upper respiratory tract infection; eNOS, Nitric oxide synthase 3; HLA, Human leukocyte antigen; CCR5, C-C chemokine receptor type 5; TNF, Tumor Necrosis Factor; p-JNK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase; PGC-1α, Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1 alpha; PGC-1β, Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1 beta; CCR5, C-C chemokine receptor type 5.