•  
  •  
 

Abstract

Introduction: systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a rheumatic autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation that is associated with clinical symptoms and disease severity. Therefore, strategies to reduce inflammation, such as physical exercise, have a potential therapeutic role in SLE due to its anti-inflammatory effects. This study sought to compare cytokines and soluble TNF receptors response to: (1) moderate vs. intense aerobic exercise in active SLE (SLEACT) and remission SLE (SELREM) patients; (2) SLEACT vs. SLEREM patients undergoing moderate and intense aerobic exercises; and (3) SLE patients vs. healthy controls (HC) undergoing moderate and intense aerobic exercises. Methods: twelve SLEREM (age: 35.3±5.7 yrs; BMI: 25.6±3.4 kg/m2), 11 SLEACT (age: 30.4±4.5 yrs; BMI: 26.1±4.8 kg/m2) and 10 age-and BMI-matched HC (age: 30.6±5.2 yrs; BMI: 24.1±2.3 kg/m2) performed 30-min sessions of moderate (~50% of VO2max) and intense (~70% of VO2max) exercises. Serum cytokines (INF-γ, IL-10, IL-6, TNF-α) and soluble receptors (sTNFR1 and sTNFR2) were measured at rest, immediately after the exercise, every 30-min during three hours of recovery, and 24 h after the end of exercise session. Results: there were no differences for cytokines and sTNFRs responses between moderate and intense aerobic exercise for SLEACT and SLEREM patients (P>0.05). Similar responses were found when SLEACT and SLEREM patients were compared for moderate and intense exercises, except for 1) serum TNF-α, which was lower in SLEACT than SLEREM patients after moderate exercise (P<0.05); 2) serum sTNFR1, which was higher in SLEREM than SLEACT patients at 30th and 60th minutes of moderate exercise recovery (P=0.027 and P=0.036, respectively); and 3) serum sTNFR2, which remained higher during both sessions of exercise and recovery for SLEREM in comparison to SLEACT patients (P<0.01). Also, a time-effect was observed for serum IL-6 and TNF-α (P<0.05) after intense exercise with a posterior reduction under baseline values, reaching the values experienced by HC. Conclusion: cytokines and sTNFRs were not different in both exercise intensities for SLEACT and SLEREM, except for a few differences, which pointed out to a "less inflammatory pattern" in SLEACT patients, suggesting that exercise (even more intensive) can be safely performed by SLE patients with active disease. Finally, the reduction shown in serum IL-6 and TNF-α after intense exercise in SLEACT patients supports evidences for an anti-inflammatory effect of exercise and reinforces the importance of physical exercise to SLE treatment.

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.