This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Posted: **Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:05 pm**

Wonderfulworld wrote:JL it's not this is it? http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrary.o ... 06/13/4351 - it's the opposite though, with Interferon Gamma being suppressed by D3....?

Interferon-gama is a pro-inflammatory cytokine, which is what this article says calcitriol suppresses.

Interferon-beta are the class of disease modifying drugs for MS. These are completely different molecules.

Posted: **Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:25 pm**

exactly. the article i found previously matched up interferon beta and 1,25(OH)2D3. whereas interferon gamma activates 1,25 blah, etc.

Posted: **Sat Mar 05, 2011 3:44 pm**

it was something like this one:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/x40311257k3t3005/
"1α,25(OH)2D3 inhibited the expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (NFATc1, also referred as NFAT2), an essential transcription factor for osteoclast differentiation, and upregulated the expression of interferon-β (IFN-β)"
that still isn't the one though. :S

Posted: **Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:14 pm**

For a person who belives MS is an autoimmune disease, there is overwhelming evidence that Vitamin D has benefits.

The only question left is what is the appropriate dosage.

http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1159

Posted: **Sat Mar 05, 2011 5:25 pm**

i'd say the dosage varies widely depending on each individual's present D3 status, level of absorption (mine varies widely depending on zinc status) ... from what i understand once an optimal level around (~125-150 has been suggested) has been attained, 4000IU/d can be considered a maintenance dose, again, depending on individual dose-response. and level of sun exposure with associated variations by age, skin colour, etc.

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:21 am**

Just bumping this thread so everyone sees it. A very important piece of research for us all.

Posted: **Sun Mar 13, 2011 2:40 pm**

Here is a good review article on the impact of Vitamin D on regulatory T cells:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21104171

You may notice that this is written by researchers investigating asthma, but they come to the same conclusions as reaserachers investigating other disease: Tregs are responsible for self tolerance.

Here is another article with the same conclusions:

http://www.cell.com/abstract/S0092-8674%2808%2900624-7

Here is a article from our freinds at the drug company Roche that looks at Vitamin D (analogs of course), Tregs and diabetes:

http://www.roche.com/pages/downloads/sc ... nh02-3.pdf

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:20 am**

The MS Society is considering carrying out research in Scotland on a possible link between vitamin D deficiency and Multiple Sclerosis.

A report has called for more research on the role of vitamin D, and highlighted that Scotland is an ideal candidate country for the study.

Scotland has high levels of both vitamin D deficiency and MS.

The MS society wants to establish an international group of experts to carry out the research.

Last year, the MS Society hosted a summit in Glasgow on vitamin D and MS............... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1334

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:55 am**

I wonder if they will also look at this angle, considering the genetic results from the IVSND conference. 1 in 7 Scots carry an iron over load HFE gene. As for the other genes named at the conference, well who knows.

Low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D in hereditary hemochromatosis: relation to iron status.Chow LH, Frei JV, Hodsman AB, Valberg LS.

Abstract
Under normal conditions, vitamin D absorbed from the diet or synthesized in the skin is transported to the liver where it undergoes hydroxylation. The purpose of this study was to determine whether excess hepatic iron affects this process and the subsequent production of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (1,25-[OH]2D) in the kidney. Mean serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD) concentrations in untreated hereditary hemochromatosis were 13 +/- 6 (SD) in 9 patients with cirrhosis, 13 +/- 6 in 5 patients with hepatic fibrosis, and 22 +/- 6 in 10 patients with normal hepatic architecture aside from siderosis and were significantly lower than the levels found in 24 controls matched for age, sex, and season, p less than 0.05. The mean serum 25-OHD levels in the two groups with hemochromatosis and hepatic damage were significantly lower than the value in the group with normal hepatic architecture, p less than 0.05. Serum 25-OHD levels in individual patients were inversely related to the size of body iron stores as measured by exchangeable body iron, r = -0.64, or serum ferritin, r = -0.47, p less than 0.05. In 15 patients removal of excess body iron by venesection therapy produced a significant increase in the mean serum 25-OHD from 20 ng/ml to 30 ng/ml, p less than 0.05. In contrast, mean serum 1,25-[OH]2D levels were similar in iron-loaded and control subjects, indicating that the regulation of this metabolite was intact in patients with hemochromatosis. The results reveal that the low serum 25-OHD concentration in patients with hemochromatosis is directly related to the extent of iron loading and it is improved by venesection therapy.

PMID: 3838288 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3838288

Posted: **Thu Mar 31, 2011 10:28 pm**

An international consortium of vitamin D experts published a new call to action to address the worldwide vitamin D deficiency in the latest journal of Public Health Nutrition due to their observations that the recent IOM (Institute of Medicine) report was ‘deficient’.

Ten members of the GrassrootsHealth Call to Action Panel wrote letters indicating their points of view. “The potential benefits of vitamin D were underemphasized while overstating the evidence for potential harm” from Edward Giovannucci, Harvard; “People consistently take a supplement, first and foremost, because that supplement makes them feel better. They will continue to take vitamin D.” from John Cannell, Vitamin D Council; “The IOM’s latest recommendations are largely inconsequential. The IOM committee ignored the consensus of hundreds of vitamin D research scientists and nutritionists from at least twenty-five countries” wrote Anthony W. Norman, Emeritus Professor, University of California Riverside.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1334

Posted: **Mon Apr 04, 2011 4:30 pm**

Here is another good review article on regulatory T cells:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 2308.x/pdf

So, from all of the information I have provided in this thread it looks like the following may be true of multiple sclerocis:

1. MS is caused by a defect in the regulatory T lymphocyte function, in particular the master control gene FOXP3.

2. There are certain pro-inflamitory T-cells that target autoatigens within the central nervous system such as meylin basic protein. Usually, a regulatory T-cell of the same phenotype in a healthy subject will prevent an autoimune response on this tissue.

This is why people with a defective blood brain barrier but a healthy regulatory T-Cell function do not acquire multiple sclerosis.

3. In a normal person, natural regulatory T-cells (nTregs) are developed in the thymus. However, induced regulatory T-cells (iTregs) can be developed outside of the thymus, and it appears vitamin D plays a key role in iTreg development.

Here is another article with additional information:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 5-0001.pdf

This is a topic that is being heavilly researched by immunologists.
The vast majority of these researchers are working on not for profit grants, so in my opinion it is very disrespectful to label these people as being pawns of the drug companies and are only doing this for their own financial gain.

Thousands of people are working on this aspect of the immune system, and I for one would like to thank them for their hard work.

Posted: **Wed Apr 06, 2011 9:20 am**

http://www.prohealth.com/library/showar ... ibid=16067

Posted: **Wed Apr 06, 2011 3:54 pm**

Here is a new article that investigates regulatory T-cells in the cerebral spinal fluid and new lesions in MS patients:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0017988

They find that regulatory T-cells (Tregs) are deficient in MS CSF and lesions compared to healthy people.

This mountain of evidence on regulatory T-cells, MS and vitamin D seems hard to ignore for any logical person in my opinion.

This is more than just a hypothesis.

Posted: **Tue Apr 12, 2011 1:03 am**

Many individuals have been calling for increased recognition of the vitamin D deficiency epidemic in Western countries due to sun avoidance, but have not been heeded by mainstream health authorities.

This editorial in Australia's premier medical journal brings to the fore the issue of vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy, a critical issue for the development of autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, among other diseases.

Prominent Australian endocrinologist Professor Peter Ebeling, in commenting on a paper published in this week's issue of the MJA showing that 41% of pregnant women screened were deficient in vitamin D (at the very conservative level of 50nmol/L or less), called for routing screening for vitamin D in pregnancy.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1334

Posted: **Tue Apr 12, 2011 3:48 pm**

Here is a good video discussion of Regulatory Tcells and immune tolerance by a researcher involved in diabetes research:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2565852/

But the regulatory T cell and self tolerance seems to pertain to all autoimmune diseases.

This guy doesn't seem like a money grubbing patsy of big pharma, he seems more interested in trying to help people in my view.

Note: adaptive tregs (atreg) = induced treg (itreg) = tr1 cells.

I think there is more than enough data here to sticky this thread.

People with an open mind may find this information helpful.

This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

all things vitamin D

MS 'link' to vitamin D deficiency may be studied

Worldwide vitamin D call to action

Vitamin D and vascular health/high blood pressure study

MAJ calls for routine vitamin D testing in pregnancy