Chronic low-grade systemic infl ammation plays a role in the development of cardiovascular (CV) disease. Habitual endurance exercise training reduces the risk of CV disease in part through anti-infl ammatory mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate the eff ects of age, endurance training status, and their interaction on pro-infl ammatory plasma cytokines involved in the pathogenesis of CV disease. Subjects were BMI-matched young (25 ± 3 years; endurance trained: n = 9, sedentary: n = 11) and older (62 ± 5 years; endurance-trained: n = 12, sedentary: n = 11) men. Plasma cytokine concentrations were determined by multiplex cytometric bead assay. Soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) levels were 40 % higher in sedentary older men compared to young sedentary subjects ( P = 0.048), but they were not diff erent between the young and older trained men. Furthermore, sICAM-1 levels were negatively correlated with maximal oxygen uptake (V˙ O 2 max; r = − 0.38, P = 0.01) across all subjects. There were no significant diff erences among the groups in plasma concentrations of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), soluble tumor necrosis-α receptor (sTNFR), soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), or resistin. We conclude that habitual endurance training is associated with an attenuated agerelated increase in plasma sICAM-1.