Exercise Immunology and Inflammation: From Molecular Mechanisms to Clinical Applications in Chronic Disease

Exercise immunology and inflammation is an expanding field investigating how physical activity regulates immune-cell function, inflammatory signaling, and disease progression. Although acute exercise can transiently mobilize leukocytes and alter cytokine concentrations, repeated exercise may promote more sustained improvements in systemic inflammation, metabolic health, vascular function, and immune regulation. However, the magnitude and direction of these responses vary according to exercise mode, intensity, duration, training status, age, sex, medication use, disease phenotype, and baseline inflammatory status. Important questions remain regarding the biological significance of commonly measured biomarkers, the relationship between molecular responses and clinical outcomes, and the mechanisms underlying interindividual variability. Recent studies have highlighted the roles of IL-6, TNF-α, IL-10, myokines, immune-cell trafficking, oxidative stress, and tissue-specific inflammation, while also demonstrating potential benefits of exercise in cardiometabolic disease, cancer, autoimmune and rheumatic conditions, and age-related chronic low-grade inflammation. Nevertheless, evidence is often limited by heterogeneous exercise prescriptions, small sample sizes, inconsistent biomarker panels, and insufficient mechanistic integration. Further investigation is needed to establish clinically meaningful dose–response relationships and advance personalized exercise-based interventions. This Research Topic aims to clarify the molecular and cellular mechanisms through which acute and chronic exercise influence immune and inflammatory pathways, and to determine how these mechanisms contribute to clinical benefit in chronic disease. Contributions may examine how exercise modality, intensity, volume, timing, and training status shape cytokine responses, immune-cell mobilization, oxidative stress, and tissue-specific inflammation. The Research Topic also seeks studies linking biological adaptations to clinically relevant outcomes, including cardiometabolic control, vascular health, disease activity, treatment response, symptoms, physical function, quality of life, and survival. Particular interest will be given to mechanistic and translational studies that identify biomarkers for patient stratification, explain variability in exercise responsiveness, test exercise as an adjunct therapy, or evaluate whether changes in inflammatory and immune pathways mediate improvements in chronic disease outcomes. To gather further insights into exercise-induced immune and inflammatory regulation in chronic disease, this Research Topic will focus on human and clinically relevant translational research involving acute or chronic exercise interventions, observational studies, mechanistic investigations, and integrative analyses. Studies should clearly define the exercise exposure and relevant disease or inflammatory phenotype; purely descriptive studies without a meaningfulimmunological, inflammatory, physiological, or clinical interpretation are outside the primary scope. We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Acute and chronic exercise effects on inflammatory and immune biomarkers• Cytokine, chemokine, myokine, and adipokine responses, including IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-10• Immune-cell mobilization, trafficking, phenotype, and function, including NK cells, T cells, B cells, monocytes, and macrophages• Oxidative stress, redox regulation, mitochondrial function, and their interaction with inflammation• Aerobic, resistance, combined, high-intensity, interval, and low-volume exercise training• Exercise dose–response relationships and determinants of inflammatory adaptation• Cardiovascular disease, hypertension, heart failure, and vascular inflammation• Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and adipose-tissue inflammation• Cancer-related inflammation, treatment tolerance, fatigue, and exercise immunology• Autoimmune and rheumatic diseases, including disease activity and symptom regulation• Aging, immunosenescence, inflammaging, frailty, and sarcopenia• Exercise as an adjunct to pharmacological, nutritional, or clinical therapies• Biomarker-based patient stratification and predictors of exercise responsiveness• Mechanistic trials linking immune or inflammatory changes to clinical outcomes• Multi-omics, systems biology, and tissue-specific approaches to exercise immunology• Standardization, reproducibility, and clinical interpretation of inflammatory biomarkers Accepted article types: Original Research, Brief Research Report, Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, Scoping Review, Methodology or Protocol, Clinical Trial, Observational Study, Perspective, General Commentary. Topic editors: Rodrigo Assunção Oliveira, Nicolette Bishop Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/84775/exercise-immunology-and-inflammation-from-molecular-mechanisms-to-clinical-applications-in-chronic-disease