Effects of Acute Exercise and Allopurinol Administration on Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR)

Background: Although physical exercise acutely increases the most widely used inflammatory biomarkers, there is no information on its effect on soluble urokinase plasminogen activating receptor (suPAR), a circulating biomarker increasingly used for the assessment of systemic inflammation. Methods: suPAR was assessed with the quantitative suPARnostic (R) Standard ELISA Assay (Virogates, Birkerod, Denmark) in 12 professional football players before and after a football match. The athletes were divided into two experimental groups. An oral dose of 300 mg of allopurinol was administered to one group of six participants four hours before a match; the other six participants received placebo. Results: Serum suPAR concentration did not vary significantly after the match in both the placebo and allopurinol group. No significant differences were observed between placebo and allopurinol groups at baseline and after the game. Conclusions: At variance with other consolidated inflammatory biomarkers, suPAR is not influenced by either physical exercise or administration of xanthine oxidase inhibitors.