Brandt D Pence

Brandt D Pence
The University of Memphis | U of M · College of Health Sciences

PhD

About

94
Publications
31,057
Reads
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7,826
Citations
Additional affiliations
August 2016 - present
The University of Memphis
Position
  • Professor
June 2012 - June 2016
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Position
  • PhD Student
August 2007 - May 2012
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Position
  • Research Assistant

Publications

Publications (94)
Article
Full-text available
Modified cholesterols such as oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) contribute to atherosclerosis and other disorders through the promotion of foam cell formation and inflammation. In recent years, it has become evident that immune cell responses to inflammatory molecules such as OxLDLs depend on cellular metabolic functions. This review examine...
Article
Immunosenescence encompasses multiple age-related adaptations that result in increased susceptibility to infections, chronic inflammatory disorders, and higher mortality risk. Macrophages are key innate cells implicated in inflammatory responses and tissue homeostasis, functions progressively compromised by aging. This process coincides with declin...
Article
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SARS-CoV-2 has, since its emergence in 2019, become a global pandemic. Disease outcomes are worsened in older patients who are infected. The causes for this is multifactorial, but one potential cause for this disparity is increased rates of cellular senescence in older individuals, particularly in immune cells. Cellular senescence, the accumulation...
Chapter
Full-text available
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its etiological agent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) have caused considerable illness and death worldwide. The innate immune system seems to play a principal in the disease, as a hallmark of severe COVID-19 is excessive inflammation. Monocytes and macrophages are important innate...
Article
Full-text available
Epidemiological studies revealed that the elderly and those with comorbidities are most susceptible to COVID-19. To understand how genetics affects the risk of COVID-19, we conducted a multi-instrument Mendelian Randomization (MR) analysis and found that the genetic variation that supports a longer life is significantly associated with the lower ri...
Article
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A hallmark of COVID-19 is a hyperinflammatory state associated with severity. Monocytes undergo metabolic reprogramming and produce inflammatory cytokines when stimulated with SARS-CoV-2. We hypothesized that binding by the viral spike protein mediates this effect, and that drugs which regulate immunometabolism could inhibit the inflammatory respon...
Article
Full-text available
Aging is the strongest contributor to the development and severity of many chronic and infectious diseases, primarily through age-related increases in low-grade inflammation (inflammaging) and decreases in immune function (immunosenescence). Metabolic reprogramming in immune cells is a significant contributor to functional and phenotypic changes in...
Preprint
Full-text available
A hallmark of COVID-19 is a hyperinflammatory state that is associated with severity. Various anti-inflammatory therapeutics have shown mixed efficacy in treating COVID-19, and the mechanisms by which hyperinflammation occurs are not well understood. Previous research indicated that monocytes, a key innate immune cell, undergo metabolic reprogrammi...
Article
Full-text available
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the third highly pathogenic coronavirus to emerge in the 21st century. The virus, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was the first of these coronaviruses to cause a worldwide pandemic, and to date has resulted in over 100 million cases and over 2 million deaths worldwide...
Article
Full-text available
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in part through cytokine storm. Metabolic reprogramming in immune cells mediates inflammation, and recent evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 activates glycolysis in monocytes to facilitate cytokine production. In this study I investigated the ability o...
Article
Discussion on the observed association between unique populations of circulating monocytes and severity of COVID-19.
Article
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Objective Age‐associated decreases in immune functions are precipitated by a variety of mechanisms and affect nearly every immune cell subset. In myeloid cells, aging reduces numbers of phagocytes and impairs their functional abilities, including antigen presentation, phagocytosis, and bacterial clearance. Recently, we described an aging effect on...
Article
Full-text available
Aging is a complex process that involves dysfunction on multiple levels, all of which seem to converge on inflammation. Macrophages are intimately involved in initiating and resolving inflammation, and their dysregulation with age is a primary contributor to inflammaging-a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation that develops during aging. Among t...
Article
Full-text available
Monocytes are circulating innate immune cells that are functionally dysregulated during aging. However, while metabolic regulation of innate immune cell function is now well-established, only a handful of studies have examined this in the context of aging. In a recent article published in Aging Cell , Saare et al. observe comprehensive metabolic re...
Article
Full-text available
The ongoing pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes a disproportionate number of severe cases and deaths in older adults. Severe SARS-CoV-2-associated disease (coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020 and is characterized by cytokine storm, acute...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background Immunosenescence is an age-associated decrease in function of immune cells precipitated by a variety of mechanisms and affecting nearly every immune cell subset. In myeloid cell subsets, aging reduces numbers of phagocytes and impairs their functional abilities, including antigen presentation, phagocytosis, and bacterial clearance. Recen...
Article
Full-text available
Several decades of research in the area of exercise immunology have shown that the immune system is highly responsive to acute and chronic exercise training. Moderate exercise bouts enhance immunosurveillance and when repeated over time mediate multiple health benefits. Most of the studies prior to 2010 relied on a few targeted outcomes related to...
Article
Full-text available
Inflammaging is the chronic low-grade inflammation that occurs with age that contributes to the pathology of age-related diseases. Monocytes are innate immune cells that become dysregulated with age and which can contribute to inflammaging. Metabolism plays a key role in determining immune cell functions, with anti-inflammatory cells primarily rely...
Article
Full-text available
Immunosenescence is an age-associated decrease in function of immune cells precipitated by a variety of mechanisms and affecting nearly every immune cell subset. In myeloid cell subsets, aging reduces numbers of phagocytes and impairs their functional abilities, including antigen presentation, phagocytosis, and bacterial clearance. Recently, we hav...
Article
Full-text available
Inflammaging is the chronic low-grade inflammation that occurs with age that contributes to the pathology of age-related diseases. Monocytes are innate immune cells that become dysregulated with age and which can contribute to inflammaging. Metabolism plays a key role in determining immune cell functions, with anti-inflammatory cells primarily rely...
Preprint
Full-text available
Inflammaging is the chronic low-grade inflammation that occurs with age that contributes to the pathology of age-related diseases. Monocytes are innate immune cells that become dysregulated with age and which can contribute to inflammaging. Metabolism plays a key role in determining immune cell functions, with anti-inflammatory cells primarily rely...
Article
Full-text available
Objective: Sudden cardiac events account for 40-50% of firefighter line-of-duty deaths. Inflammatory proteins are strong biomarkers of cardiovascular inflammation. The present study investigated the effects of aspirin supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers following firefighting. Methods: Using a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind...
Article
Full-text available
Studies suggest that exercise can improve vaccination responses in humans. Chronic stress can lead to immunosuppression, and there may be a role for exercise in augmenting immune responses. Purpose: To investigate the effects of acute eccentric exercise (ECC) and voluntary wheel exercise training (VWR) on antibody and cell-mediated immune respons...
Article
Full-text available
Background Inflammaging is a condition of chronic low-grade inflammation due to the aging process and is associated with a variety of chronic diseases. Monocytes are innate immune cells which contribute to inflammation and are dysregulated during aging, demonstrated reduced phagocytosis, increased inflammation, and alterations in subset proportions...
Article
Inflammaging is a condition of chronic low-grade inflammation due to the aging process and is associated with a variety of chronic diseases. Monocytes are innate immune cells which contribute to inflammation and are dysregulated during aging, demonstrated reduced phagocytosis, increased inflammation, and alterations in subset proportions. Metabolis...
Article
Full-text available
Monocytes are cells of the innate immune system which perform important functions, including inflammatory cytokine production and phagocytosis, and participate in pathogen defense. In aging and disease, monocyte functions are dysregulated, and this dysregulation has been conclusively linked to the pathogenesis of a variety of age-related chronic di...
Article
Vaccinia virus (VACV) is a double‐stranded DNA virus of the poxvirus family. Since the eradication of smallpox, VACV is most commonly used as an experimental infection model, but VACV‐based vaccines (either live or attenuated) have received increased attention in previous years as vehicles for inoculation against other agents. Exercise has previous...
Article
Recent data has supported a role for the gut microbiota in improving cognition and shaping behavior. Here, we assessed whether pectin, a soluble, fermentable fiber, could enhance learning and memory in mice. Two cohorts of young male C57Bl/6 J mice, C1 (n = 20) and C2 (n = 20), were obtained from Jackson Laboratory and randomized to semi-purified A...
Article
Full-text available
Aging is a critical healthcare concern, with age-related inflammation disposing individuals to a variety of diseases. Monocytes are affected by the aging process, with increased inflammation and impaired cellular functions such as phagocytosis. Mechanisms by which aging alters monocyte function are unknown, but recent research suggests that the bal...
Article
Full-text available
Exercise has been shown to improve immune responses to viral infections and vaccines in several mouse models. However, previous pathogen studies have primarily used infections limited to the respiratory tract. Additionally, previous studies have utilized forced treadmill exercise paradigms, and voluntary wheel running (VWR) has been shown to have d...
Article
Full-text available
We have previously shown that a diet containing epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and beta-alanine is not effective in improving either cognitive or muscle function in aged (18 month) mice (Gibbons et al. Behav Brain Res 2014, Pence et al. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2016). However, this diet reduced oxidative stress in the brain, and previous studies us...
Article
Introduction Recent data indicates that environmental conditions early in life can alter behavioral outcomes and responses to dietary interventions in model experiments. The gut microbiota may mediate such differences. Methods Two cohorts, C1 (n = 20) and C2 (n = 20), of C57Bl/6J mice were randomized to a 5% pectin (n = 20) or cellulose diet (n =...
Article
Previous research has examined the effects of exercise in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of multiple sclerosis. However, all previous studies have utilized a chronic model of EAE, with exercise delivered prior to or immediately after induction of EAE. To our knowledge, no study has examined the effects of exercise...
Article
We have previously shown that 40 days of a diet containing epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and beta‐alanine was not effective in improving either cognitive or muscle function in aged (18 month) mice (Gibbons et al . Behav Brain Res 2014, Pence et al. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab in press). However, diet reduced oxidative stress in the brain, and previou...
Article
Introduction Pectin is a soluble, fermentable dietary fiber that can improve intestinal homeostasis in mammals. Beyond the gut, recent evidence suggests a positive relationship between fiber intake and learning and memory in humans. The potential mechanisms by which fermentable, dietary fibers can modulate behavior have not been fully explored. Hy...
Article
Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) contribute to immune and brain function and are produced by gut bacteria through metabolism of fermentable fiber. We examined the relationship between dietary fiber and changes in cognition, muscle function, and cecal SCFA content with or without voluntary exercise in mice. Six‐week old male C57Bl/6J mice were fed AI...
Article
There is robust evidence that habitual physical activity is anti-inflammatory and protective against developing chronic inflammatory disease. Much less is known about the effects of habitual moderate exercise in the gut, the compartment which has the greatest immunological responsibility and interactions with the intestinal microbiota. The link bet...
Article
Aging leads to sarcopenia and loss of physical function. We examined whether voluntary wheel running, when combined with dietary supplementation with (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and β-alanine (β-ALA), could improve muscle function and alter gene expression in the gastrocnemius of aged mice. Seventeen-month-old BALB/cByJ mice were given ac...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
PURPOSE: To examine the effects of a 6-wk exercise program with pet therapy teams (EPT) and with exercise only (E) on adherence and physical function, in older men and women (77 ± 6 years) living in a retirement facility. METHODS: Fifteen participants were randomly assigned to EPT (n= 8) or E (n= 7). Groups exercised 3x/wk for approximately 45 minu...
Article
We have shown that 40 days on a diet containing epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and beta‐alanine (B‐Ala) was not effective in improving cognitive or muscle function in aged (18 mo) mice (Gibbons et al. Behav Brain Res 2014). However, ECGC+B‐Ala diet reduced oxidative stress in the brain, and previous studies using longer interventions have document...
Article
Nutrition and physical exercise can enhance cognitive function but the specific combinations of dietary bioactives that maximize pro-cognitive effects are not known nor are the contributing neurobiological mechanisms. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is a flavonoid constituent of many plants with high levels found in green tea. EGCG has anti-infla...
Article
Full-text available
We have previously shown that voluntary (VWR)attenuates, while forced treadmill exercise (FTR) exacerbates, intestinal inflammation and clinical outcomes in a mouse model of colitis. As the gut microbiome is implicated in colitis, we hypothesized that VWR and FTR would differentially affect the gut microbiome. Mice (9-10/treatment) were randomly as...
Article
Exercise immunology is a relatively new discipline in the exercise sciences that seeks to understand how exercise affects the immune system and susceptibility to infectious and chronic diseases. This brief review will focus on three major observations that have driven the field to date including: (1) acute exercise-induced leukocytosis, (2) the obs...
Article
Full-text available
Executive function declines with age, but engaging in aerobic exercise may attenuate decline. One mechanism by which aerobic exercise may preserve executive function is through the up-regulation of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), which also declines with age. The present study examined BDNF as a mediator of the effects of a 1-year walking...
Article
Aging is associated with impaired learning and memory accompanied by reductions in adult hippocampal neurogenesis and brain expression of neurotrophic factors among other processes. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG, a green tea catechin), β-alanine (β-ala, the precursor of carnosine), and exercise have independently been shown to be neuroprotective...
Article
Full-text available
Significance: Impaired cutaneous wound healing is a major health concern. Obesity has been shown in a number of studies to impair wound healing, and chronic nonhealing wounds in obesity and diabetes are a major cause of limb amputations in the United States. Recent Advances: Recent evidence indicates that aberrant wound site inflammation may be an...
Article
The influence of nutritional supplementation with Epigallacetechin gallate and β‐alanine in combination with physical exercise on adult hippocampal neurogenesis and contextual fear conditioning in young adult BALB/cJ mice. Nutritional supplementation and physical exercise can enhance cognitive function but the specific combinations of nutrients tha...
Article
Exercise improves muscle function and oxidative stress in the elderly. Several dietary interventions have been evaluated for their effects. Beta‐alanine (BA) improves muscle function, while epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is an antioxidant. Little is known about the interaction between exercise and diet. We examined the effects of voluntary wheel r...
Article
Aging is associated with a decline in cognition in humans and rodents. Recently, these changes have been linked with decreased hippocampal neurogenesis. Physical exercise increases neurogenesis and reverses some of the cognitive deficits in elderly subjects, but the extent to which dietary supplementation may interact with physical exercise is unkn...
Article
Full-text available
The purpose of this study was to observe exercise training–induced effects on adiponectin, leptin, and ghrelin. Twenty-nine older, healthy participants were classified as physically active (comparison group: N = 15, 70.9±1.2 years) or physically inactive (exercise group: N = 14, 70.5±1.4 years). Exercise group participants completed 12 weeks of com...
Article
The purpose of this study was to examine whether exercise training reduced inflammation and symptomology in a mouse model of colitis. We hypothesized that moderate forced treadmill running (FTR) or voluntary wheel running (VWR) would reduce colitis symptoms and colon inflammation in response to dextran sodium sulfate (DSS). Male C57Bl/6J mice were...
Article
Identification and characterization of compounds that enhance the growth, development, and health of infants who are not breastfed continues to be a goal for nutritional science. This study explored the effects of one dietary component, (1,3/1,6)-β-d-glucan (Wellmune WGP), on lung immune development in the neonatal piglet. The hypothesis was that s...
Article
Peripheral stimulation of the innate immune system with LPS causes exaggerated neuroinflammation and prolonged sickness behavior in aged mice. Regular moderate intensity exercise has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects that may protect against inappropriate neuroinflammation and sickness in aged mice. The purpose of this study was to test...
Article
The current study examined how a randomized one-year aerobic exercise program for healthy older adults would affect serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) - putative markers of exercise-induced benefits on brain function. The study also exami...
Article
Full-text available
Infants are susceptible to infections in early life and must rely on their innate immune system for protection. β-Glucans potentiate immune responses. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of purified yeast (1,3/1,6)-β-d-glucan (Wellmune WGP, here referred to as WGP) on the development of the gastrointestinal tract and the intestinal and systemic i...
Article
Full-text available
Research has shown that aging is associated with increased systemic inflammation as well as a reduction in the strength of immune responses. However, little evidence exists linking the decrease in cell-mediated immunity in older adults with other health parameters. We sought to examine the relationship between cell-mediated immunity as measured in...
Article
Purpose: Obesity has been shown to impair cutaneous wound healing, which is associated with increased wound inflammation. Exercise is known to decrease obesity-associated inflammation and has been shown to speed cutaneous wound healing in aged mice. Therefore, we investigated whether treadmill exercise could speed cutaneous wound healing in obese,...
Article
Dementia cases may reach 100 million by 2050. Interventions are sought to curb or prevent cognitive decline. Exercise yields cognitive benefits, but few older adults exercise. Virtual reality-enhanced exercise or "exergames" may elicit greater participation. To test the following hypotheses: (1) stationary cycling with virtual reality tours ("cyber...
Article
Full-text available
Influenza virus is a serious health concern. β-glucans derived from plants, bacteria, and fungi have been shown to potentiate immune system responses including those elicited by vaccination. However, in these studies β-glucan was administered as an adjuvant in the vaccine preparation. We hypothesized that addition of a commercially available whole...
Article
Full-text available
During the aging process, a decrease in the ability of the immune system to control infection, known as immunosenescence, takes place. Paradoxically, aging also results in chronic low-level inflammation and exaggerated inflammatory responses. A number of studies have investigated the effects of a variety of exercise training interventions on the im...
Article
Full-text available
The hippocampus shrinks in late adulthood, leading to impaired memory and increased risk for dementia. Hippocampal and medial temporal lobe volumes are larger in higher-fit adults, and physical activity training increases hippocampal perfusion, but the extent to which aerobic exercise training can modify hippocampal volume in late adulthood remains...
Article
Full-text available
Statin treatment and exercise training can reduce markers of inflammation when administered separately. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of rosuvastatin treatment and the addition of exercise training on circulating markers of inflammation including C-reactive protein (CRP), monocyte toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression, and...
Article
Full-text available
Recent evidence from our lab suggests that, in high fat diet-induced (HFD, 45% fat) obese mice, moderate exercise, low fat diet (LFD, 10% fat), or their combination results in significant reductions in the visceral adipose tissue inflammation. Adipose tissue hypoxia, perhaps involving cell stress or death, has been suggested as one of the major ini...
Article
Full-text available
Hippocampal volume shrinks in late adulthood, but the neuromolecular factors that trigger hippocampal decay in aging humans remains a matter of speculation. In rodents, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes the growth and proliferation of cells in the hippocampus and is important in long-term potentiation and memory formation. In humans...
Article
Objective. Acute systemic inflammation or infection transiently increases risk of cardiovascular events, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. Although observational studies suggest that inflammation is associated with arterial stiffness and blood pressure, the causal relationship of this is not clear. We tested the hypothesis tha...
Article
Prolonged intense exercise causes immunosuppression, whereas moderate-intensity exercise improves immune function and potentially reduces risk and severity of respiratory viral infections. Here, based on available evidence, we present a model whereby moderate exercise-induced increases in stress hormones reduce excessive local inflammation and skew...
Article
Full-text available
Statin treatment and exercise training can improve lipid profile when administered separately. The efficacy of exercise and statin treatment combined, and its impact on myalgia and serum creatine kinase (CK) have not been completely addressed. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of statin treatment and the addition of exercise tra...