Exercise Improves Cytokine Profile in HIV-infected People: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Purpose: Verify the effects of concurrent training on cytokines in people living with HIV under antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment. Methods: This was a blinded, parallel-group, clinical trial, where 49 participants, divided in two groups, either control group or concurrent training group, took part in the intervention. The control group performed recreational activities and concurrent training group participated of 16-week, 3 times per week of heart rate guided-aerobic plus resistance training for major muscular groups. Cytokines (interleukins 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interferon-gamma, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor) were measured before and after 16-week experimental period using flow cytometry. Results: From 49 participants who took part in the intervention, 28 completed the program and had data analyzed. There was a significant interaction for IL-8, which increased for control group: 7.1 +/- 5.1 vs. 8.1 +/- 6.0 and a decrease for concurrent training: 8.0 +/- 4.4 vs. 5.4 +/- 2.3. In addition, magnitude-based inference showed a likely beneficial effect for the training group when compared to the control group for IL-8, IL-5, and IL-10. The difference perceptual: mean and [CI 90%] between delta of difference within groups was -43.1 [-64.0 to -10.0] and-6.6 [-14.7 to 2.3], respectively. Conclusion: Short-term exercise is able to decrease the levels of IL-5, IL-8, and IL-10 in HIV-infected people undergoing ART.