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Associate Professor
of Kinesiology & Nutritional Science
Area of Interest Exercise physiology; Role of exercise in the modulation of immune function in the young and old. Neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying exercise and stress-induced immunomodulation. The goals of our research are to; 1) determine the effects of different doses of exercise on immune function, 2) determine how exercise affects immune function, and 3) explore the use of exercise in improving immune function or preventing declines in immune function in old age. We have employed both human and animal (mice) models to address these important questions. We have found that, in young and old mice, exercise training improves the tumor killing capacity of macrophages. This effect is associated with increased production of nitric oxide (NO, a potent toxic effector molecule) and iNOS gene expression (the enzyme that produces NO). We have also shown that, in young and old humans, single bouts of exercise can affect blood immune cell number and function. Our NIH funded studies are currently exploring the effects of exercise training on age-dysregulated immune measures. We are also exploring the underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms as to how exercise and stress impact immune function and cancer. Data obtained from our studies will provide important information regarding the interactions between exercise, immune function, and aging and will contribute to the understanding of why exercise improves the quality of life and reduces the incidence of various cancers. Dr Woods graduated (Ph.D. 1992) from the University of South Carolina and did post-doctoral research at the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation in Psychoneuroimmunology. He is an active member of the American College of Sports Medicine, the International Society for Exercise Immunology, and the Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society. He was awarded the American College of Sports Medicine's New Investigator Award in 1998 and the Psychoneuroimmunology Young Investigator Award in 1999. Publications Woods, J.A., M.A. Ceddia, J.K. Evans, E.A. Price, B.W. Wolters, E. McAuley, and Q. Lu. Effects of chronic endurance exercise on immune function in the elderly. Mech. Age. Dev.,109(1):1-19, 1999. Ceddia, M.A., E.A. Price, B.W. Wolters, J.K. Evans, Q. Lu, E. McAuley, and J.A. Woods. Differential leukocytosis and lymphocyte response to maximal exercise in the young and old. Med. Sci. Spt. Exerc., 31(6): 829-836, 1999. Lu, Q., M.A. Ceddia, E.A. Price, J.A. Woods. Chronic exercise increases macrophage-mediated anti- tumor cytolytic function in young and old mice. Am. J. Physiol. 276(2): R482-R489, 1999. Woods, J.A., Evans, J.K., Wolters, B.W., Ceddia, M.A., and E. McAuley. Effects of maximal exercise on natural killer (NK) cell activity and responsiveness to interferon-alpha in the young and old. J. Gerontol. Biol. Sci., 53: B430-B437, 1998. Keywords immunity, stress, exercise, lymphocytes, cancer |
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©
2001 University of Illinois @ Urbana-Champaign
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Jeffrey
A.Woods, Ph.D.