Respiratory infection risk in athletes: association with antigen‐stimulated IL‐10 production and salivary IgA secretion
Open accessAbstract
The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing susceptibility to upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in 18–35‐year‐old men and women engaged in endurance‐based physical activity during the winter months. Eighty individuals (46 males, 34 females) provided resting blood and saliva samples for determination of markers of systemic immunity. Weekly training and illness logs were kept for the following 4 months. Thirty subjects did not experience an URTI episode and 24 subjects experienced 3 or more weeks of URTI symptoms. These illness‐prone subjects had higher training loads and had ∼2.5‐fold higher interleukin (IL)‐4 and IL‐10 production by antigen‐stimulated whole blood culture than the illness‐free subjects. Illness‐prone subjects also had significantly lower saliva S‐IgA secretion rate and higher plasma IgM (but not IgA or IgG) concentration than the illness‐free subjects. There were no differences in circulating numbers of leukocyte subtypes or lymphocyte subsets between the illness‐prone and illness‐free subjects. The production of IL‐10 was positively correlated and the S‐IgA secretion rate was negatively correlated with the number of weeks with infection symptoms. It is concluded that high IL‐10 production in response to antigen challenge and low S‐IgA secretion are risk factors for development of URTI in physically active individuals.
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In 66 endurance-based recreational athletes, daily L. salivarius over four months had little effect on frequency, severity or duration of URTIs.
“Gleeson et al. [64] examined the effects of daily supplementation of L. salivarius on 66 endurance-based recreational athletes during a four-month period in the spring. There was little effect on frequency, severity or duration of URTIs.”
From International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Probiotics (2019) · cites this paper as [64]
Particular concern relates to probiotics' potential to create systemic infections.
“Of these, particular concern relates to probiotics potential to create (not improve or treat) systemic infections [49, 64, 215].”
From International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Probiotics (2019) · cites this paper as [64]
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Self-citationURI in Athletes: Are Mucosal Immunity and Cytokine Responses Key Risk Factors?
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- Authors
- Gleeson, M., Bishop, N., Oliveira, M., McCauley, T., Tauler, P., & Muhamad, A. S.
- Affiliations
- Loughborough University (GB)
- Universitat de les Illes Balears (ES)
- Corresponding author
- Gleeson, M.
- Venue
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2011-03-08
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 410-417
- ISSN
- 0905-7188 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0838
- OpenAlex
- W1630560514
- Cited by
- 165
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 12.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Loughborough University Research Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Funders
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Yakult Honsha
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Emergency Medical Services › Pediatric health and respiratory diseases
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Keywords
- upper respiratory tract infection, athletes, endurance training, IL-10, IL-4, salivary IgA, systemic immunity, infection susceptibility, winter training
- MeSH terms
- Blood Cell Count, Disease Susceptibility, Female, Humans, Immunoglobulin A, Secretory, Interferon-gamma, Interleukin-1, Interleukin-2, Interviews as Topic, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Respiratory Tract Infections, Risk, Saliva, Seasons, Severity of Illness Index, Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha, Interleukin-4, Interleukin-6, Interleukin-8, Interleukin-10, Young Adult
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