Acute and chronic cytokine responses to resistance exercise and training in people with multiple sclerosis

Exercise is a well-established part of rehabilitation for people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS), and it has been hypothesized to stimulate an anti-inflammatory environment that might be disease modifying. Yet, investigations on exercise-induced immune responses are scarce and generally not paying attention to the medical treatments of the patient. At present, PwMS are routinely enrolled in immunosuppressive medication, but exercise-induced immunomodulatory effects have not been investigated under these circumstances. The objective of this study was to investigate the acute and chronic cytokines responses to resistance exercise training in medicated PwMS. Thirty-five people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with interferon (IFN)-β, were randomized to a 24-week progressive resistance training (PRT) or control group. Plasma interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-10, IL-17F, IL-23, tumor necrosis factor-α and IFN-γ were measured before and after 24 weeks of PRT. The acute effect was evaluated following standardized single-bout resistance exercise in the untrained and the trained state. No changes were observed in resting cytokine levels after PRT. However, an indication of reduced IL-17F secretion following resistance exercise was observed in the trained compared with the untrained state. This study suggests little acute and chronic effect of PRT on cytokine levels in IFN-treated PwMS.