The effect of eight weeks of combined training on the blood expression of miR-146a, miR-21, and TLR-2 in women with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

miR-146a, miR-21, and TLR-2 are involved in anti-inflammatory processes, remyelination, and regulation of autoimmune responses that may be affected by exercise training. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of eight weeks of combined training on the expression of miR-146a, miR-21, and TLR-2 in women with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Twenty-three women (age: 33.09±5.28 years, weight: 64.05±8.95 kg, and BMI: 445.98±3.33 kg/m2) with RRMS were randomly divided into exercise and control groups. Exercise group subjects participated in a supervised combined training for eight weeks, including three sessions of aerobic exercise and one session of resistance exercise. The blood expression of miR-146a, miR-21, and TLR-2 were measured using the RT-PCR technique. The data were analyzed with a two-way analysis of variance with repeated measures [group (control group and exercise group)× time (before and after eight weeks)] at a significance level of less than 0.05. Data analysis showed that the relative expression of miR-146a in women with RRMS in the exercise group decreased significantly less than in the control group (P=0.001), and on the contrary, the relative expression of miR-21 and TLR-2 increased significantly less in the exercise group than the control group (P=0.001). Combined training may have an effective role in promoting anti-inflammatory processes, remyelination, and regulation of autoimmune responses in RRMS by having a favorable effect on miR-146a, miR-21, and TLR-2, and as a result, it improves the MS and reduces the possibility of its recurrence. Therefore, the combined exercise in this study is recommended for women with RRMS.