title: Regular Exercise Enhances the Immune Response Against Microbial Antigens Through Up-Regulation of Toll-like Receptor Signaling Pathways.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Regular physical exercise can enhance resistance to many microbial infections. However, little is known about the mechanism underlying the changes in the immune system induced by regular exercise.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recruited members of a university badminton club as the regular exercise (RE) group and healthy sedentary students as the sedentary control (SC) group. We investigated the distribution of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) subsets and functions in the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in plasma cytokine levels between the RE and SC groups in the true resting state. However, enhanced levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-6, IFN-α and IL-12 were secreted by PBMCs in the RE group following microbial antigen stimulation, when compared to the SC group. In contrast, the levels of TNF-α and IL-6 secreted by PBMC in the RE group were suppressed compared with those in SC group following non-microbial antigen stimulation (concanavalin A or α-galactosylceramide). Furthermore, PBMC expression of TLR2, TLR7 and MyD88 was significantly increased in the RE group in response to microbial antigen stimulation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Regular exercise enhances immune cell activation in response to pathogenic stimulation leading to enhanced cytokine production mediated via the TLR signaling pathways.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Qishi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Guangying
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.forename: Jianing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hainv
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Yingfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Toshimitsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uede
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Diao
mesh_terms: D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000276:immunology; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005699:Galactosylceramides / Q000276:immunology; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013297:Streptococcus pyogenes / Q000276:immunology*; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015854:Up-Regulation; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D005699:Galactosylceramides; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D051193:Toll-Like Receptors; C493154:alpha-galactosylceramide; D003208:Concanavalin A