Anti-inflammatory effects of dietary vitamin D3 in patients with multiple sclerosis
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Abstract
Objective To assess the effects of dietary vitamin D3 on proinflammatory (interleukin-17A [IL-17A] and IL-6) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokines.
Methods Our study was conducted on 75 participants who were divided into 3 groups: multiple sclerosis participants (MSPs, n = 25), first-degree relative participants (FDRPs, n = 25), and healthy participants (HPs, n = 25). All groups received 50,000 IU vitamin D3/wk for 8 weeks. Serum 25-(OH) vitamin D3 levels and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of ILs were determined using electrochemiluminescence assay and real-time PCR, respectively.
Results Vitamin D3 affected the levels of IL-17A, IL-10, and IL-6 among the 3 groups (p < 0.001 for all). Levels of IL-17A (MSPs: fold change [FC] = 5.9, p = 0.014; FDRPs: FC = 5.2, p = 0.006; HPs: FC = 4.2, p = 0.012) and IL-6 (MSPs: FC = 5.6, p = 0.003; FDRPs: FC = 5.5, p = 0.002; HPs: FC = 5.1, p < 0.001) were downregulated after vitamin D3 treatment. In addition, levels of IL-10 (MSPs: FC = 6.2, p = 0.005; FDRPs: FC = 4.6, p < 0.001; HPs: FC = 5.2, p < 0.001) were upregulated after 8 weeks.
Conclusions Although supplementation with vitamin D3 reduced the mRNA expression levels of IL-17A and IL-6, it increased the mRNA expression level of IL-10 in all groups. However, these effects were more considerable in the MSP group than in the other groups. Of interest, in a deficiency state of serum vitamin D3, IL-17A expression had a positive feedback effect on the expression of IL-6. Conversely, in the sufficient state, IL-10 expression had a negative feedback effect on the expression of IL-17A and IL-6.
Glossary
- APC=
- antigen-presenting cell;
- BBB=
- blood-brain barrier;
- FC=
- fold change;
- FDRP=
- first-degree relative participant;
- HP=
- healthy participant;
- IFN-γ=
- interferon-γ;
- IL=
- interleukin;
- MS=
- multiple sclerosis;
- MSP=
- multiple sclerosis participant;
- TGF-β=
- transforming growth factor-β;
- Th=
- T helper;
- VDR=
- vitamin D receptor;
- VDRE=
- vitamin D response element
Footnotes
↵* These authors contributed equally to the manuscript.
Funding information and disclosures are provided at the end of the article. Full disclosure form information provided by the authors is available with the full text of this article at Neurology.org/NG.
The Article Processing Charge was waived at the discretion of the Editor.
- Received January 9, 2018.
- Accepted in final form July 9, 2018.
- Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND), which permits downloading and sharing the work provided it is properly cited. The work cannot be changed in any way or used commercially without permission from the journal.
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