Resumen de Intensive exercise does not preferentially mobilize skin-homing t cells and nk cells

James E. Turner, Alex J. Wadley, Sarah Aldred

• Purpose: This study investigated whether natural killer (NK) cells and CD8+ T cells expressing cutaneous lymphocyte antigen (CLA)—a homing molecule for endothelial cell leukocyte adhesion molecule 1, which enables transmigration to the skin—are selectively mobilized in response to acute exercise.

  Methods: Nine healthy men (mean ± SD age: 22.1 ± 3.4 yr) completed two exercise sessions: high-intensity continuous cycling (“continuous exercise” at 80% V˙O2max for 20 min) and low-volume high-intensity interval exercise (at 90% V˙O2max 10 × 1 min repetitions with 1 min recovery intervals). Blood was collected before, immediately and 30 min postexercise for cryopreservation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells. CLA+ and CLA− cells were quantified within NK subpopulations (CD56bright “regulatory” and CD56dim “cytotoxic” cells) as well as the following CD8+ T cell subpopulations: naive (“NA”; CD45RA+ CCR7+), central memory (“CM”; CD45RA− CCR7+), effector-memory (“EM”; CD45RA− CCR7−), and CD45RA-expressing effector-memory cells (“EMRA”; CD45RA+ CCR7−).

  Results: CLA+ NK cells and CD8+ memory T cells increased in response to both exercise bouts, but, overall, their numerical contribution to the exercise lymphocytosis was inferior to CLA− cells, which increased to a much greater extent during exercise. Tellingly, the most exercise-responsive cells—effector memory CD8+ cells and CD56dim cells—were CLA−.

  Conclusions: A small subset of CLA+ lymphocytes are mobilized into blood during acute intensive exercise, but CLA+ cells are not major contributors to exercise lymphocytosis, thus providing preliminary evidence that the skin is not a major origin, or homing destination, of exercise-sensitive lymphocytes.