A Study on the Correlation Between Peripheral Blood GPX, Immunoglobulin Ratio Profile, and Inflammatory Factor Profile in Elite Athletes During Resting State

Background Long-term high training loads and intense competition schedules keep elite athletes in a continuous cycle of recovery and reloading, with subclinical fluctuations in inflammation and redox imbalance potentially affecting immune homeostasis. The signaling value and sensitivity of resting glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and malondialdehyde (MDA) for inflammation and immune status have yet to be systematically compared. Methods: A total of 25 high-level athletes in regular mid-season training were enrolled. Venous blood was collected in the morning under resting, fasting conditions to measure inflammation factors, immunoglobulins and their ratios, as well as oxidative stress-related indicators. Statistical analysis was performed using Python 3 (pandas, scipy, statsmodels, matplotlib), with Spearman rank correlations and bootstrap (5,000 resamples) used to estimate 95% confidence intervals. The sensitivity of GPX and MDA to the inflammation axis was compared using the difference in correlation strength (Δρ) test. Immunological analyses were corrected using the Benjamini–Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR), followed by stratification and robustness verification. Results: GPX showed significant negative correlations with interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) (ρ = −0.647, −0.609, −0.601, respectively), while MDA had no significant correlation with these inflammation factors. Δρ tests showed GPX to be more sensitive to changes in IL-1β compared to MDA. GPX was negatively correlated with secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) and immune ratio spectra (sIgA/IgG, IgA/IgG, IgM/IgG), and positively correlated with immunoglobulin G (IgG), all remaining significant after FDR correction. After controlling for IL-6, gender, and body fat percentage, the independent contribution of GPX to immune ratios was not significant. Stratification based on GPX quartiles showed higher inflammation levels and immune ratios in the low GPX group and lower values in the high GPX group, with significant inter-group differences and large effect sizes. Core conclusions remained consistent after Winsorizing.Conclusion: In the resting state, the defensive GPX better reflects inflammation-related oxidative stress than the damage marker MDA and can be used to identify individuals with low antioxidant reserves and shifts in inflammation and immune ratio spectra. However, after controlling for inflammation and body composition, GPX lacks independent explanatory power for immune ratios, suggesting that it is better suited as a stratification and auxiliary monitoring indicator. It is recommended to combine GPX with inflammation factors and key immune ratios for training management and recovery monitoring.