Exercise and COVID-19 Viral T-cell Immunity

Summary

Viruses are a major health problem for the general public and at risk populations. Normally, detection of antibody titers is the gold standard for determining the effectiveness of the immune system following natural or vaccine caused immunization. However, determining the effectiveness of other parts of the immune system are less common due to the difficulties with testing. Furthermore, there is a critical need to address other therapies in case vaccination is not successful in immuncompromised populations. Exercise has been shown to increase the strength of the immune system against many types of viruses and therefore could be simple way to improve immunity against the COVID-19 virus. The aim of this research is to determine the effects of exercise on anti-viral immunity against many types of common viruses before and after vaccination. We hypothesize that exercise will enhance the anti-viral immunity before and after vaccination. Up to 30 healthy volunteers (age 18-44 years) will be recruited to participate in this study. For completion of Aim 1, three visits are needed totaling around 7 hours of the patient's time and for Aim 2, three visits are needed totaling around 4.5 hours of the patient's time. The initial visit will be for pre-screening and if deemed healthy enough to participate, an exercise test to determine the VO2 max of the participant will be conducted. The following visits will require a trained phlebotomist to insert an in-dwelling catheter and participants will undergo a 20-minute incremental exercise trial. Approximately 50mL of blood will be collected at four different timepoints: at rest, 60% VO2 max, 80% VO2 max, and 1-hr post-exercise. All four collected blood samples will be used to expand viral specific T-cells and compare IFN-γ rele

Timeline

Start

2021-03-09

Primary completion

2025-12-25

Completion

2025-12-25

Publications

• Results Batatinha H, Baker FL, Smith KA, Zuniga TM, Pedlar CR, Burgess SC, Katsanis E, Simpson RJ. Recent COVID-19 vaccination has minimal effects on the physiological responses to graded exercise in physically active healthy people. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2022 Feb 1;132(2):275-282. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00629.2021. Epub 2021 Dec 9.
• Results Baker FL, Smith KA, Zuniga TM, Batatinha H, Niemiro GM, Pedlar CR, Burgess SC, Katsanis E, Simpson RJ. Acute exercise increases immune responses to SARS CoV-2 in a previously infected man. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2021 Dec;18:100343. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2021.100343. Epub 2021 Sep 8.
• Results Baker FL, Zuniga TM, Smith KA, Batatinha H, Kulangara TS, Seckeler MD, Burgess SC, Katsanis E, Simpson RJ. Exercise mobilizes diverse antigen specific T-cells and elevates neutralizing antibodies in humans with natural immunity to SARS CoV-2. Brain Behav Immun Health. 2023 Mar;28:100600. doi: 10.1016/j.bbih.2023.100600. Epub 2023 Jan 31.
• Results Smith KA, Zuniga TM, Baker FL, Batatinha H, Pedlar CR, Burgess SC, Gustafson MP, Katsanis E, Simpson RJ. COVID-19 vaccination produces exercise-responsive SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cells regardless of infection history. J Sport Health Sci. 2024 Jan;13(1):99-107. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2023.06.006. Epub 2023 Jul 1.

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