David Walzik

@niklasjoisten.bsky.social @sebproschinger.bsky.social @50823zimmer.bsky.social

Looking forward to 2026!

Full article: doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Many thanks to all our collaborators from @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, @dkfz.bsky.social, IfADo - Leibniz-Institut für Arbeitsforschung an der TU Dortmund, German Sport University, and our team @tu-dortmund.de. This wouldn’t have been possible without the input from many different sides!

This opens exciting new avenues on exercise as a crucial driver of immunological competence and the "trainability" of our immune system, which has huge implications for disease prevention across different populations.

Using machine learning-based prediction models we were able to identify an immunoproteomic signature composed of 20 proteins that is highly predictive of cardiorespiratory fitness.

3. What I am most excited about, however, is what we discovered when turning our attention to the baseline data. Leveraging the high proteomic resolution and the repeated baseline measurements, we wondered whether we could learn anything about long-term training effects and immunological fitness.

2. These changes were more pronounced after high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) compared to time- and energy-matched moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) and occurred despite similar changes in immune cell mobilisation and redistribution between the two exercise conditions.

1. Using Gene Ontology analyses we observed that acute exercise rewires the immune cell proteome towards proteins involved in immune effector functions necessary for immunological defense and anticancer immunity.

We thus set out to tackle a simple but highly relevant question: Does a single bout of exercise alter immune cell proteostasis in a biologically meaningful manner and if so, is this process dependent on exercise intensity?

Here is what we found:

The positive effects of exercise are well described on an epidemiological level, but mechanistic studies on the molecular underpinnings remain largely elusive.

As we grow older our immune system deteriorates, which is reflected by higher infection rates and cancer incidence in the elderly. Recent studies indicate that more youthful immune systems are linked to higher survival and that exercise plays a crucial role in keeping our immune system "fit".

Super happy to see the last paper of my PhD published in @natureportfolio.nature.com journal Nature Communications! Here is a graphical summary and a short thread of our findings.

Mitohormesis links physical exercise and subsequent formation of reactive oxygen species to insulin sensitivity and antioxidant defense.

One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Antioxidants prevent health-promoting effects of physical exercise in humans.” Explore the article here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/Me2U50SkLRZ.

ICYMI:

PROSPECTS DFG Research Career Series: Emmy Noether Programme (in English) - 28/04/2025 - 1:15-2:45 p.m. CET

PhD candidates and postdocs of all disciplines: Would you like to lead an independent junior research group? In our online talk you will get first-hand information about the aims of our Emmy Noether Programme, its eligibility requirements and more. Questions welcome!
➡️ www.dfg.de/en/research-...

Pre-fertilization-origin preservation of brown fat-mediated energy expenditure in humans Nature Metabolism, Published online: 07 April 2025; doi:10.1038/s42255-025-01249-2In humans, conception during cold seasons is shown to exhibit higher brown adipose tissue activity and adaptive thermogenesis, and lower body mass index and visceral fat accumulation in the offspring.

ICYMI:

Exercise-induced meteorin-like protein protects human pancreatic beta cells from cytokine-induced apoptosis - Diabetologia Aims/hypothesis Inflammation-driven pancreatic beta cell death is a hallmark of type 1 diabetes progression. We have previously shown that serum obtained from individuals after high-intensity interval...

The exerkine meteorin Metrnl is a potential therapeutic target for preserving human beta cell function and survival in type 1 #diabetes @diabetologiajnl.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Energizing immune cells Experiments in fruit flies reveal a mechanism that immune cells can use to control the availability of nutrients when fighting infections.

Fruit flies demonstrate a mechanism that immune cells can use to control the availability of nutrients when fighting infections.
buff.ly/NXOfE4a

X’s dominance ‘over’ as Bluesky becomes new hub for research Data indicates more scholars turning to alternative social media site to post about their work after Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover

'Bluesky has overtaken its flailing rival X in hosting posts related to new academic research, indicating the platform is fast becoming the go-to place for scholars to share their work.'

Exercise training restores longevity‐associated tryptophan metabolite 3‐hydroxyanthranilic acid levels in middle‐aged adults Aim Recent pre-clinical evidence suggests that the tryptophan metabolite 3-hydroxyanthranilic acid (3-HAA) and the related enzyme activity along the kynurenine metabolic pathway (KP) are associated ...

Check out our new paper now out in Acta Physiologica on the tryptophan metabolite 3-HAA in the aging and exercise context 👇
@50823zimmer.bsky.social @davidwalzik.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Integrating the environmental and genetic architectures of aging and mortality - Nature Medicine Based on a systematic analysis of environmental exposures associated with aging and mortality in the UK Biobank, the relative contributions of such exposures and genetic risk for mortality and a range of age-related diseases were compared, highlighting the potential beneficial effects of environment-focused interventions.

A study in Nature Medicine provides a comprehensive map of the contributions of environment and genetics to mortality and incidence of common age-related diseases, suggesting that the exposome shapes distinct patterns of disease and mortality risk. #Medsky 🧪

Protein organ clocks, as assessed in over 6,000 people (~4,000 plasma proteins, 8 organs) with 20-year follow-up are predictive for over 30 age-related diseases
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

No evidence for Peto’s paradox in terrestrial vertebrates | PNAS Larger, longer-lived species are expected to have a higher cancer prevalence compared to smaller, shorter-lived species owing to the greater number...

Peto's Paradox—that cancer does not increase with body size of mammals—was wrong.
A new, comprehensive study of 263 species documents higher cancer prevalence with increasing body mass. Some large animals (e.g. elephants) have some built-in genetic adaptations
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @pnas.org

Human skeletal muscle fiber heterogeneity beyond myosin heavy chains - Nature Communications Moreno-Justicia and colleagues report transcriptomic and proteomic pipelines to explore heterogeneity within human skeletal muscle fibers, identifying sources of fiber heterogeneity in healthy individ...

A deep dive into the heterogeneity of human muscle fibers using transcriptomics and proteomics, now online @naturecomms.bsky.social. This was an amazing collaboration between our team @wimderave.bsky.social and the team @adeshmukh.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pretty cool!

Cellular crosstalk in skeletal muscle? A surprising role for mast cells? Histamine as a signal transducer during exercise? Check out the story in @cp-cellmetabolism.bsky.social 🧵

@wimderave.bsky.social, @ugent-fge.bsky.social, @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cellular deconstruction of the human skeletal muscle microenvironment identifies an exercise-induced histaminergic crosstalk Van der Stede et al. identified a role for mononuclear cells in the skeletal muscle microenvironment to steer the response to exercise. Mast cells locally secrete histamine during exercise, triggering...

New #Cell_Metabolism paper: Cellular deconstruction of the human skeletal muscle microenvironment identifies an exercise-induced histaminergic crosstalk. #MyoBlue tinyurl.com/ymc5ha3w

As always this project wouldn’t have been possible without the support and input of many different people. Thanks a lot to all co-authors! (12/12)
@50823zimmer.bsky.social @niklasjoisten.bsky.social

All our generated datasets and the proteomics raw data files are publicly available with this preprint. To facilitate data mining with respect to this and upcoming projects, we are currently finalising an interactive website, which will be published alongside the article once it is accepted. (11/12)

World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour Objectives To describe new WHO 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Methods The guidelines were developed in accordance with WHO protocols. An expert Guideline Development Gr...

Our data also supports the WHO physical activity guidelines, which highlight exercise intensity as a relevant factor to maintain health: doi.org/10.1136/bjsp.... (10/12)

Physical activity and risk of infection, severity and mortality of COVID-19: a systematic review and non-linear dose–response meta-analysis of data from 1 853 610 adults Objective To quantify the association between physical activity and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19-associated hospitalisation, severe illness and death due to COVID-19 in adults. Design A sys...

This is in line with epidemiological studies showing reduced disease risk and improved disease course in people performing high levels of physical activity (e.g., doi.org/10.1136/bjsp... and doi.org/10.1007/s402...). (9/12)