Time to ‘Couple’ Redox Biology with Exercise Immunology

Regular moderate-intensity exercise is known to have both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant roles in humans, whereas intense exercise is commonly associated with both impaired immune function and heightened oxidative stress. The disciplines of immunology and redox biology are therefore regularly coinvestigated in the context of exercise; however, this has primarily been limited to monitoring changes in extracellular biomarkers (i.e., plasma, serum and saliva). Redox reactions mediate multiple aspects of innate and adaptive immunity. Exercise modulates innate (e.g., wound healing) and adaptive (e.g., vaccination response) immunity; however, only recently has the link between altered immune cell redox state, immune cell function and exercise been established. Accumulating evidence over the last 15 years indicates that redox reactions regulate skeletal muscle physiology. A role for redox reactions (i.e., reversible cysteine thiol oxidation) in modulating the benefits of exercise on immunity, therefore, seems highly intuitive. In this chapter, we review the current literature on redox exercise immunology and discuss how methodological issues largely explain the gaps in our knowledge. We close by suggesting how modern advances in biomedical sciences could benefit the field of redox exercise immunology and propose future areas of investigation, including immunometabolism and extracellular vesicle tissue crosstalk.