Exercise, respiratory function, and immuno-inflammatory mechanisms in health and disease: Clinical and experimental perspectives

Respiratory diseases remain among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, imposing a substantial burden on health systems and significantly limiting functional capacity, immune competence, quality of life, and long-term prognosis. Physical exercise plays a multifaceted role in this context, acting both as a physiological stressor capable of revealing subclinical immune dysfunction and as a powerful non-pharmacological intervention with systemic immunomodulatory effects. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that exercise modulates immune-inflammatory pathways in the lung, influencing cytokine networks, immune cell trafficking, mucosal barrier integrity, and both innate and adaptive immune responses. Advances in clinical and experimental immunology research have expanded our understanding of how physical exercise shapes pulmonary immune homeostasis across different populations and disease phenotypes. However, important gaps remain regarding the specific immunological mechanisms that mediate exercise-induced adaptation in healthy and diseased lungs. This Research Topic aims to integrate current knowledge and stimulate interdisciplinary discussion at the interface between exercise science, respiratory physiology, and immunology.The primary objective of this Research Topic is to explore how exercise influences the onset, progression, and management of respiratory diseases through defined immune and inflammatory mechanisms, using both clinical and experimental approaches. We aim to spotlight investigations that elucidate the cellular and molecular immunology underlying exercise-induced adaptations in healthy and diseased lungs. This includes research on how exercise alters immune cell phenotype and function in the airways, modulates inflammatory signalling cascades, reshapes the pulmonary cytokine milieu, and influences mucosal immune defence. Special focus will be given to immune-mediated adaptations in chronic respiratory conditions such as asthma, COPD, interstitial lung diseases, and post-infectious syndromes including post-COVID sequelae. Recent advances in immunophenotyping, single-cell immune profiling, and translational animal models provide new opportunities to uncover mechanistic immune pathways and identify immunological biomarkers of response to exercise-based interventions. By placing immunology at the centre of the exercise-respiratory disease axis, this collection aims to advance mechanistic understanding, support precision rehabilitation strategies, and ultimately improve prevention, treatment, and patient outcomes.This Research Topic welcomes original contributions that place immunological mechanisms at the core of their investigation into the interactions between exercise, respiratory function, and immune regulation across clinical, experimental, and translational domains. We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini Reviews, Brief Research Reports, Hypothesis and Theory, and Methods articles that demonstrate a clear immunological focus, whether through immune cell characterization, cytokine or chemokine profiling, immune pathway analysis, or immunological endpoints. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Exercise-induced modulation of innate and adaptive immune responses in the lung, including changes in alveolar macrophage polarization, neutrophil activity, T cell subsets, and mucosal immunoglobulin dynamics• Immune mechanisms underlying exercise-related adaptations in asthma, COPD, interstitial lung disease, and post-COVID conditions• Pulmonary and systemic immune-inflammatory crosstalk, including the roles of oxidative stress, immunometabolism, and inflammasome activation• Immunophenotyping and immune biomarker discovery in the context of cardiopulmonary exercise testing• Immune pathways involved in exercise-induced bronchoconstriction and airway hyperresponsiveness• Immune-regulatory roles of respiratory muscle training, including effects on local and systemic inflammatory mediators• Experimental in vivo and in vitro models investigating immune responses to exercise in the context of lung disease• Novel immunomodulatory, rehabilitative, and preventive strategies with defined immune endpointsManuscripts that focus primarily on exercise physiology, cardiopulmonary mechanics, or clinical rehabilitation outcomes without a substantive immunological component fall outside the scope of this collection.Topic Editor Dr. Sulicka-Grodzicka received support in the form of participation in medical conferences (Abbvie, Takeda, CSL Behring, Medac, Polpharma), and honoraria for lectures from organizing agencies. Topic editors: Carla Máximo Prado, Alessandra Choqueta de Toledo Arruda, Joanna Sulicka-Grodzicka Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80429/exercise-respiratory-function-and-immuno-inflammatory-mechanisms-in-health-and-disease-clinical-and-experimental-perspectives