REVIEW  CARDIOVASCULAR PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION: COST-EFFECTIVE AND UNDERUTILIZED TOOLS 

Panminerva Med 2021 June;63(2):122-32

DOI: 10.23736/S0031-0808.21.04266-X

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Exercise for slowing the progression of atherosclerotic process: effects on inflammatory markers

Crescenzo TESTA ¹, Anna DI LORENZO ¹, Alessandro PARLATO ¹, Giuseppe D’AMBROSIO ¹, Aurora MEROLLA ¹, Mario PACILEO ², Gabriella IANNUZZO ³, Marco GENTILE ³, Cinzia NUGARA ⁴, Filippo M. SARULLO ⁴, Cesare DE GREGORIO ^{5, 6}, Antonello D’ANDREA ², Carlo VIGORITO ¹, Elio VENTURINI ⁷, Francesco GIALLAURIA ^{1, 8} ✉

¹ Department of Translational Medical Sciences, Federico II University, Naples, Italy; ² Unit of Cardiology and Intensive Care, “Umberto I” Hospital, Nocera Inferiore, Salerno, Italy; ³ Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University, Naples, Italy; ⁴ Unit of Cardiovascular Rehabilitation, Buccheri La Ferla Fatebenefratelli Hospital, Palermo, Italy; ⁵ Unit of Cardiology, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Messina, Italy; ⁶ Post-graduate Residency School in Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University Hospital of Messina, Messina, Italy; ⁷ Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit, AUSL Toscana Nord-Ovest, Cecina Civil Hospital, Cecina, Livorno, Italy; ⁸ Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, Australia

Atherosclerosis is a dynamic process driven by all cardiovascular risk factors that can be briefly divided into an early and a late phase. Inflammation is one of the fundamental substrates that initiates the atherosclerotic process in the early stages and promotes and maintains it in the final stages. In the last decades, clinical and experimental data have shown that inflammation is supported by mediators that respond to physical activity. The present review aimed at investigating the effect of physical exercise on inflammatory mediators, both the positive ones that have a proinflammatory effect (interleukin 6, c-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor α, interferon γ, high-mobility group box-1), and the negative ones which have an anti-inflammatory effect (interleukin 10). Pooled data support the evidence that physical exercise can directly modulate the activity of inflammatory cytokines slowing down or preventing the formation of the atherosclerotic stage.

KEY WORDS: Exercise; Atherosclerosis; Inflammation; C-reactive protein; Interleukin-6; Interferon-gamma; HMGB1 protein