The effects of Taijiquan on serum concentration of interleukin-6, interleukin-8, tumor necrosis factor-α in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in stationary stage

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the effects of Taijiquan (TJQ) on serum concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6) interleukin-8 (IL-8),tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in stationary stage.Methods Seventy-four patients with COPD at stationary stage were randomly divided into TJQ group,and control group,all patients received 12 weeks exercise.Subjects in TJQ group received 24 Yang's style TJQ program,while those in control group were instructed to maintain their usual activities and prescribed no any special exercise program.For each subject,data collection and comparative analysis of serum concentrations of IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α were performed at baseline and at the 6th and 12th week.Results Serum concentrations of IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α of control group at the 6th and 12th week showed no significant change compared with baseline(P ＞ 0.05) ; After 6 weeks of training,serum concentrations of IL-6 of TJQ group [(248.86 ± 64.18) ps/ml] showed no significant difference from baseline (P ＞ 0.05),serum concentrations of IL-8 [(146.25 ± 17.60)pg/ml] decreased (P ＜ 0.05),and TNF-α [(57.03 ± 12.19)pg/ml] decreased significantly compared with baseline (P ＜ 0.01).But compared with control group,the changes of three indexes were not statistically different (P ＞ 0.05).After 12 weeks of training,three indexes of TJQ group decreased significantly compared with baseline (P ＜ 0.01) ; compared with control group,serum concentrations of IL-6 [(220.89 ± 62.25) pg/ml] decreased and had statistical difference (P＜0.05),serum concentrations of IL-8 [(138.28 ± 24.86) pg/ml] and TNF-α[(51.44 ± 11.88)] also decreased compared with control group at the same period,and had significant difference (P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion TJQ exercise can decrease serum concentrations of IL-1,IL-6 and TNF-αin patients with COPD in stationary stage.It is speculated that the rehabilitation treatment mechanism of TJQ exercise on COPD may be associated with down-regulation of serum concentrations of IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α. Key words: Taijiquan; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Interleukin-6; Interleukin-8 ; Tumor necrosis factor-α