Cytokine Responses to Acute Intermittent Aerobic Exercise in Children With Prader-Willi Syndrome and Nonsyndromic Obesity

Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), the best characterized form of syndromic obesity, presents with abnormally high fat mass. In children, obesity presents with low-grade systemic inflammation. This study evaluated if PWS and/or nonsyndromic obesity affected cytokine responses to intermittent aerobic exercise in children. Eleven children with PWS (11 +/- 2 y, 45.4 +/- 9.5% body fat), 12 children with obesity (OB) (9 +/- 1 y, 39.9 +/- 6.8% body fat), and 12 lean (LN) children (9 +/- 1 y, 17.5 +/- 4.6% body fat) participated. Children completed 10 2-min cycling bouts of vigorous intensity, separated by 1-min rest. Blood samples were collected preexercise (PRE), immediately postexercise (IP), and 15, 30, and 60 min into recovery to analyze possible changes in cytokines. In all groups, IL-6 and IL-8 concentrations were greater during recovery compared with PRE. PWS and OB exhibited higher IL-6 area under the curve (AUC) than LN (p < .01 for both). PWS demonstrated higher IL-8 AUC than LN (p < .04). IL-10, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma did not change with exercise (p > .05 for all). Results indicate that children with PWS respond with increased 11-6 and IL-8 concentrations to acute exercise similarly to controls. Excess adiposity and epigenetic modifications may explain the greater integrated IL-6 and IL-8 responses in PWS compared with controls.