Immunoregulation induced by autologous serum collected after acute exercise in obese men: a randomized cross-over trial

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the effects of autologous serum collected after two types of exercise on the in vitro inflammatory profile and T cell phenotype of resting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in obese men. Serum samples and PBMCs were obtained from eight obese men who performed two exercise bouts—high intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and exhaustive exercise session to voluntary fatigue—in a randomized cross-over trial. Pre-exercise PBMCs were incubated with 50% autologous serum (collected before and after each exercise bout) for 4 h. In vitro experiments revealed that post-HIIE serum reduced the histone H4 acetylation status and NF-κB content of PBMCs and suppressed the production of both TNF-α and IL-6 by PBMCs, while increasing IL-10 production. Post-exhaustive exercise serum induced histone H4 hyperacetylation and mitochondrial depolarization in lymphocytes and increased TNF-α production. In vitro post-HIIE serum incubation resulted in an increase in the frequencies of CD4 + CTLA-4 + and CD4 + CD25+ T cells expressing CD39 and CD73. Post-exhaustive exercise serum decreased the frequency of CD4 + CD25 + CD73+ T cells but increased CD4 + CD25-CD39 + T cell frequency. Both post-exercise serums increased the proportions of CD4 + PD-1 + and CD8 + PD-1+ T cells. Blood serum factors released during exercise altered the immune response and T cell phenotype. The type of exercise impacted the immunomodulatory activity of the post-exercise serum on PBMCs.

The Impact of Exercise Serum on Selected Parameters of CD4+ T Cell Metabolism

“…To ensure shifts in T-cell proportions after exercise did not influence our results, subjects were well-rested at the day fresh blood for CD4+ T cell isolation was drawn. Similar to our study, few in vitro studies incubated T cells with exercise serum [24,25]. To our knowledge, no study has investigated the effects of exercise serum on the immunometabolism of CD4+ T cells so far.…”

“…Perry et al found higher inflammatory Th17 cell numbers after lymphocyte incubation in exercise serum from trained athletes after a half marathon [24]. In contrast, Dorneles et al found a higher number of immunosuppressive CD4+/CD25-/CD39+ T cells when incubating lymphocytes with serum after acute exhaustive exercise from obese men [25,26]. However, the metabolic function of CD4+ T cells after activation in the context of exercise remains unknown independent of exercise duration.…”

Influence of Exercise on Exhausted and Senescent T Cells: A Systematic Review

“…Acute Exercise Induces Mobilization of PD-1 + and May Not in CTLA-4 + CD8 + T Cells Similar to senescent CD8 + T cell populations, acute exercise induced the mobilization of PD-1 + exhausted CD8 + T cells into the peripheral blood compartment (Gustafson et al, 2017;Dorneles et al, 2020;Wadley et al, 2020;Schenk et al, 2021). Furthermore, blood serum collected after acute exercise induced CD8 + T cells to express exhaustion marker PD-1 at a greater rate (∼43%) than pre-exercise blood serum (Dorneles et al, 2020).…”

“…Acute Exercise Induces Mobilization of PD-1 + and May Not in CTLA-4 + CD8 + T Cells Similar to senescent CD8 + T cell populations, acute exercise induced the mobilization of PD-1 + exhausted CD8 + T cells into the peripheral blood compartment (Gustafson et al, 2017;Dorneles et al, 2020;Wadley et al, 2020;Schenk et al, 2021). Furthermore, blood serum collected after acute exercise induced CD8 + T cells to express exhaustion marker PD-1 at a greater rate (∼43%) than pre-exercise blood serum (Dorneles et al, 2020). Mobilization of exhausted T cells was not reported in repeated exercise studies due to their study design (van der Geest et al, 2017;Wong et al, 2021).…”

Potential Physiological and Cellular Mechanisms of Exercise That Decrease the Risk of Severe Complications and Mortality Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…Emerging data show that the severity of the COVID-19 cytokine storm and its complications is associated with lymphopenia, with lower counts of and exhausted VSTs, CD4 + and CD8 + T cells, and NK cells [ 168 , 169 , 170 ]. High-intensity exercise has also been shown to enhance the effector profile of CD8 + T cells in mice [ 171 ] and obese humans [ 172 ]. Accordingly, the anti-immunosenescent effects of regular PA could be an important measure for maintaining resiliency against COVID-19 and other viral infections with advancing age ( Figure 3 ).…”