Chronic physical exercise or physical training (PT) has been widely used in the last years with therapeutic and preventive purposes in a series of pathophysiological conditions, including cardiovascular disease. Besides the cardiovascular benefits, PT seems capable to modulate in pathological conditions, at the presence of an abnormal inflammatory response, including over expression of proinflammatory cytokines through a neuro-immune-endocrine interaction. Nowadays chronic heart failure (CHF) is reviewed as the consequence of an interplay of hemodynamic, neurohormonal, immunological and endocrine mechanisms. This abnormal inflammatory response, including the over expression of proinflammatory cytokines may be proposed as responsible for the progression and clinical deterioration in CHF. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is the main proinflammatory cytokines involved in the inflammatory cascade implicated in the pathophysiological of CHF. PT may improve exercise performance by modifying the inflammatory status, as well as by allowing reversing the inflammation-induced harmful effects on the cardiovascular system, and that PT may represent an important immunomodulatory option that may be possible to intervene in the progression of the disease.
Physical exercise; Immune system; Pro-inflammatory cytokines