Position Statement. Part One: Immune function and exercise, Walsh NP et al, 2011
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21446352
Position Statement. Part Two: Maintaining immune health, Walsh NP et al, 2011
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21446353
Articles are Free, Open Access. Should have posted that sooner, sorry. Warning, though, they're long, am reading little by little...
Relevant points so far. In the extremely healthy & fit individuals tested, exercise induces--
1. A decrease in NK cell number & function.
Quote, bold mine: "There is a vast literature on the acute effects of exercise on circulating NK cells, perhaps because of the ease of study &
large magnitude of change in response to exercise."
2. A drop in T-cells & B-cells during & immediately after exercise.
3. A 24-hr post exercise window of immune suppression with data collected out 72 hrs.
4. An alteration of pro/anti inflammatory cytokine balance.
5. Cytokine gene expression of proinflammatory IL-6 associated with frequent infections.
6. Infections & EBV reactivation. Table on p. 13 first article lists many pathogens associated with exercise.
A world-wide consensus committee from: UK, US, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania & Monaco wrote the articles.
Institutions represented:
Bangor Univ, Loughborough Univ, UK;
Univ Illinois, Univ Colorado, Penn State, Stanford Univ, Appalachian State Univ, US;
Univ Toronto, Univ Waterloo, Canada;
Univ Newcastle, Australian Institute of Sport, Australia;
Univ Copenhagen, Denmark;
Univ Tuebingen, Univ Mainz, Germany;
Kaunas Univ of Medicine, Lithuania;
Monaco Institute of Sports Medicine & Surgery, Monaco.
Perhaps there are opportunities for patients to proactively reach out to these institutions & interest them in studying exercise-induced immune dysfunction in ME/CFS? Maybe Mark's recently posted collaboration could be a model.