title: Immune adaptation to chronic intense exercise training: new microarray evidence.
abstract: Endurance exercise training, especially the high-intensity training, exhibits a strong influence on the immune system. However, the mechanisms underpinning the immune-regulatory effect of exercise remain unclear. Consequently, we chose to investigate the alterations in the transcriptional profile of blood leukocytes in young endurance athletes as compared with healthy sedentary controls, using Affymetrix human gene 1.1 ST array.
  
  
  
  Group differences in the transcriptome were analyzed using Intensity-based Hierarchical Bayes method followed by a Logistic Regression-based gene set enrichment method. We identified 72 significant transcripts differentially expressed in the leukocyte transcriptome of young endurance athletes as compared with non-athlete controls with a false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05, comprising mainly the genes encoding ribosomal proteins and the genes involved in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Gene set enrichment analysis identified three major gene set clusters: two were up-regulated in athletes including gene translation and ribosomal protein production, and mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation and biogenesis; one gene set cluster identified as transcriptionally downregulated in athletes was related to inflammation and immune activity.
  
  
  
  Our data indicates that in young healthy individuals, intense endurance exercise training (exemplifed by athletic training) can chronically induce transcriptional changes in the peripheral blood leukocytes, upregulating genes related to protein production and mitochondrial energetics, and downregulating genes involved in inflammatory response. The findings of the study also provide support for the notion that peripheral blood can be used as a surrogate tissue to study the systemic effect of exercise training.
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Qinyuanhuan Road, #650, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Dongmei
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Qinyuanhuan Road, #650, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ru
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics / Bioinformatics Core, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: Ana R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: College of sports medicine and rehabilitation, Taishan Medical University, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Jinming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Paul M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Gordon
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Qinyuanhuan Road, #650, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yuqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sport, Qinyuanhuan Road, #650, Yangpu District, Shanghai, China. Chenpeijie@sus.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Peijie
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D000293:Adolescent; D056352:Athletes; D015415:Biomarkers; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007109:Immunity; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D056747:Immunomodulation / Q000235:genetics; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes
keywords: Athletes; High-intensity endurance training; Immunity; Leukocytes; Transcriptome