Research Identifies How Vitamin D Combats MS

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 17 Aug 2011 - 2:00 PDT window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId: 'aa16a4bf93f23f07eb33109d5f1134d3', status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true, channelUrl: 'http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/scripts/facebooklike.html'}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

While for years scientists have noted an association between levels of vitamin D in a person's body and the person's ability to resist or minimize the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS), the mechanism involved has not been established. However new research by Sylvia Christakos, Ph.D., of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School (principal investigator) Sneha Joshi (first author, a UMDNJ Ph.D. student), and colleagues (including co-investigator Lawrence Steinman, MD, of Stanford University) appears to have uncovered that process. The study, published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology, finds that vitamin D directly terminates the production of a disease-causing protein.

During MS ("EAE" in mice), a damaging protein called interleukin-17 (IL-17) is produced by immune cells in the brain. The investigators, a collaborative team of scientists from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Stanford University, find that after vitamin D binds to its receptor, the receptor parks itself on the gene that encodes IL-17. By doing so, the receptor occupies a site normally reserved for a protein called NFAT, which is required to turn the gene on. The gene stays off and IL-17 levels plummet.

At the same time, the vitamin D receptor turns on another gene, whose product generates suppressive T cells that combat the destructive action of their IL-17-producing counterparts.

According to the researchers, the mechanism they identify suggests what might be a new path toward pharmaceutical treatment of MS, as well as therapies for other autoimmune diseases that might include rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, eczema and psoriasis.

Source: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

posted by Annette on 20 Aug 2011 at 7:15 am

The title was fascinating and hopeful. As I read it I realized that when it came time to vote I just sort of ...hovered over the three! -It says I gave it a 3.5, but it's supposed to only be a three.- Rather than assuming I had been taken over by some silly entity that weighs in on articles only, I thought: Where does this disappointment come from? I realized then that this easy way of taking vitamin D was not explained to us. Is it D3? What dosage were the test subjects taking? Lastly, I suspect that the researchers, the grant supporters, etc. will probably come up with some elaborate way to package the application method, the formulation of a VITAMIN D compound that will magically make that particular vitamin disappear off the shelves so one can only get the doctor/FDA approved, ridiculously expensive version. I hate being this cynical, so tell us the dosage and type of vitamin D used already!

| post followup | alert a moderator |

posted by Renee on 22 Aug 2011 at 10:49 am

This information sounds promising. Please tell me how much Vitamin D is recommended.

| post followup | alert a moderator |

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)

Contact Our News Editors

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:

Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions

MediLexicon International Ltd
Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
MediLexicon International Ltd © 2004-2011 All rights reserved.

Read more »

Posted in: Combats,Identifies,Research,Vitamin

Research shows thousands of patients could be taking statins needlessly

Scientists said they have found a much better way to work out which people are in danger of developing heart problems.

Half of the middle-aged adults they studied were found to have no coronary artery calcium, and only a handful went on to suffer a heart attack or a stroke.

They said the findings have “important public health implications” and could mean significant cost savings if cholesterol-lowering drugs are prescribed only for those who would genuinely benefit.

But other experts point out that the test for coronary artery calcium is an expensive scan that involves exposing the patient to radiation, so is unlikely to be used widely. In addition, they say statins do have long-term benefits, such as slowing hardening of the arteries, so doctors are unlikely to take patients off them.

However the paper, published in The Lancet today, is the latest in a series suggesting too many people are taking the medicine once seen as a wonder drug. Up to 7million middle-aged and older people in England are thought to take statins, at a cost of ?500million a year to the NHS. There are growing fears many are the “worried well” at low risk of heart problems, and other studies have linked statins to liver or kidney problems.

In the latest paper, Dr Michael Blaha at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and colleagues studied 2,083 people with an average age of 67 who had low cholesterol, were not on statins and did not have diabetes. Of those, 46 per cent had high levels of high-sensitivity protein, which a previous study known as Jupiter had suggested would make them suitable for statin therapy.

The researchers used cardiac scans to work out the levels of calcium in the arteries of the patients, and followed up their progress about six years later. They found 47 per cent of the patients had low levels of arterial calcium, and hardly any had suffered heart complications.

Only six per cent of the coronary heart disease events (interruption of the blood supply, leading to heart attacks) and 17 per cent of the cardiovascular disease events (heart attacks or stroke) were in those with no signs of calcium in their arteries. The researchers concluded just one person in every 549 with a low calcium score would be stopped from having a heart attack by taking statins for five years. The study suggests statins may be best prescribed just for those with higher levels of calcium in their arteries.

The experts said their findings show doctors should try to measure atherosclerosis – thickening of the artery walls – by calculating calcium levels rather than just using blood tests and traditional risk factors such as family history or obesity. They added this may “represent a more appropriate allocation of resources, and reduce overall health-care cost”.

Prof Peter Weissberg, the medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: “The greatest challenge for preventive medicine is identifying people who are at highest risk of heart disease and who should be given drugs, particularly statins, to reduce that risk.

“The study shows coronary artery calcium is better than protein for identifying people at highest risk of a heart attack. But the former is expensive and involves radiation so is unlikely to be offered as a screening test for everyone.”

Read more »

Posted in: could,needlessly,patients,Research,shows,statins,taking,thousands

Research Identifies How Vitamin D Combats MS

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet
Article Date: 17 Aug 2011 - 2:00 PDT window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId: 'aa16a4bf93f23f07eb33109d5f1134d3', status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true, channelUrl: 'http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/scripts/facebooklike.html'}); }; (function() { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

While for years scientists have noted an association between levels of vitamin D in a person's body and the person's ability to resist or minimize the effects of multiple sclerosis (MS), the mechanism involved has not been established. However new research by Sylvia Christakos, Ph.D., of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School (principal investigator) Sneha Joshi (first author, a UMDNJ Ph.D. student), and colleagues (including co-investigator Lawrence Steinman, MD, of Stanford University) appears to have uncovered that process. The study, published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology, finds that vitamin D directly terminates the production of a disease-causing protein.

During MS ("EAE" in mice), a damaging protein called interleukin-17 (IL-17) is produced by immune cells in the brain. The investigators, a collaborative team of scientists from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Stanford University, find that after vitamin D binds to its receptor, the receptor parks itself on the gene that encodes IL-17. By doing so, the receptor occupies a site normally reserved for a protein called NFAT, which is required to turn the gene on. The gene stays off and IL-17 levels plummet.

At the same time, the vitamin D receptor turns on another gene, whose product generates suppressive T cells that combat the destructive action of their IL-17-producing counterparts.

According to the researchers, the mechanism they identify suggests what might be a new path toward pharmaceutical treatment of MS, as well as therapies for other autoimmune diseases that might include rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, eczema and psoriasis.

Source: University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.

If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.

All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)

Contact Our News Editors

For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.

Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:

Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions

MediLexicon International Ltd
Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
MediLexicon International Ltd © 2004-2011 All rights reserved.

Read more »

Posted in: Combats,Identifies,Research,Vitamin