Short term exercise training enhances cell-mediated responses to HSV-1 vaccine in mice

Why Physical Activity Should Be Considered in Clinical Trials for COVID-19 Vaccines: A Focus on Risk Groups

Since the World Health Organization declared the global COVID-19 state of emergency in early 2020, several vaccine candidates have emerged to control SARS-CoV-2, and some of them have been approved and implemented in vaccination campaigns worldwide. Although clinical trials for these vaccines have been carried out using highly controlled methods with accurate immunological tests, clinical questionnaires did not include questions concerning the physical activity profile among volunteers. It has been well established that physical activity plays a pivotal role in the immune response after vaccination, led by the activation of cytokines, antibodies, and cells. This concept should have been considered when evaluating the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, particularly in elderly and obese people. Here, we discuss data from the literature providing strong evidence regarding the importance of analyzing physical activity parameters to improve the accuracy of clinical trials on assessing the efficacy of vaccine candidates.

Exercise and adrenergic regulation of immunity

Exercise training has a profound impact on immunity, exerting a multitude of positive effects in indications such as immunosenescence, cancer, viral infections and inflammatory diseases. The immune, endocrine and central nervous systems work in a highly synergistic manner and it has become apparent that catecholamine signaling through leukocyte β-adrenergic receptors (β-ARs) is a key mechanism by which exercise mediates improvements in immune function to help mitigate numerous disease conditions. Central to this is the preferential mobilization and redistribution of effector lymphocytes with potent anti-viral and anti-tumor activity, their interaction with muscle-derived cytokines, and the effects of catecholamine signaling on mitochondrial biogenesis, immunometabolism and the resulting inflammatory response. Here, we review the impact of acute and chronic exercise on adrenergic regulation of immunity in the context of aging, cancer, viral infections and inflammatory disease. We also put forth our contention that exercise interventions designed to improve immunity, prevent disease and reduce inflammation should consider the catecholamine-AR signaling axis as a therapeutic target and ask whether or not the adrenergic signaling machinery can be 'trained' to improve immune responses to stress, disease or during the normal physiological process of aging. Finally, we discuss potential strategies to augment leukocyte catecholamine signaling to boost the effects of exercise on immunity in individuals with desensitized β-ARs or limited exercise tolerance.

Aerobic exercise promotes the expression of ERCC1 to prolong lifespan: A new possible mechanism

Aerobic exercise can delay aging and extend lifespan, but its specific mechanism still remains unclear. One popular theory is that with age and the cell division times increasing, DNA damage will inevitably accumulate, leading to dysfunction and failure of various tissues and organs, which will eventually lead to aging. Thus, repairing damaged DNA is a key strategy to extend lifespan. Excision repair cross-complementary gene 1 (ERCC1) is a DNA repair enzyme that recognizes, excises and repairs damaged DNA. Defects or reduced activity of the enzyme can lead to DNA damage accumulation. This study provides that aerobic exercise can significantly extend rats' lifespan and increase the expression of ERCC1 in heart, brain, liver and kidney. Therefore, based on our experiments, we propose the following scientific hypothesis: aerobic exercise can up-regulate the expression of ERCC1 and then may reduce DNA damage accumulation to maintain genomic integrity and stability, thereby delaying aging and prolonging lifespan in humans.

Effects of moderate- versus high- intensity swimming training on inflammatory and CD4+ T cell subset profiles in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Evidence about experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model of MS, has been shown to modulate disease parameters within exercise intervention. However, these initial studies weren't carried out intensity of exercise in mice. This study explored the impacts of different-intensity swimming training on EAE mice. Female mice were given access to swimming with predetermined weight (moderated-intensity (ME) group is 0% body weight; high-intensity (HE) group is 4% body weight) for 6 weeks, were immunized to induce EAE and then continued swimming until sacrificed. Compared to non-exercise mice, ME training didn't affect EAE clinical symptoms and neuropathology. However, HE swimming attenuated EAE clinical scores, reduced infiltrating cells and demyelination of spinal cords. Analysis of CD4⁺ T cell subsets from CNS of EAE showed the reduction of Th1 and Th17 populations and an increase of Treg in HE, not ME mice. Accordingly, HE training lead to a decrease of IFN-γ and IL-17 and an increase of IL-10 and TGF-β. Of note, HE, not ME, swimming induced an increase of brain derived neurotrophic factor in the CNS of EAE. Moreover, HE training upregulated Treg and downregualted antigen-specific T cell proliferation and Th1 and Th17 populations from draining lymph node cells. These results suggest that HE swimming training might have benefits on attenuating the progression and pathological hallmarks of EAE, thus representing an important non-pharmacological intervention for improvement of chronic inflammation or T-cell mediated autoimmunity.

Exhaustive Exercise Does Not Affect Humoral Immunity and Protection after Rabies Vaccination in a Mouse Model

Rabies is one of the most dangerous and widespread zoonosis and is characterized by severe neurological signs and a high case-mortality rate of nearly 100%. Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent rabies in humans and animals. In this study, the relationship between exhaustive exercise and the humoral immune response after immunization with inactivated rabies vaccine was investigated in a mouse model with one-time exhaustive exercise. It was found that compared with the mice with no exercise after vaccination, no significant differences were found in those with exhaustive exercise after vaccination on body-weight changes, virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) titers, antibody subtypes and survivor ratio after lethal rabies virus (RABV) challenge. This study indicated that exhaustive exercise does not reduce the effects of the rabies inactivated vaccine.