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Confirmation of association between Multiple Sclerosis, CYP27B1 & Vitamin D

Sunday, July 25th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in External News Articles, Uncategorized

Confirmation of association between multiple sclerosis, CYP27B1 and vitamin D

Multiple sclerosis, MS (OMIM No. 126200), is a complex inflammatory disease that is characterized by lesions in the central nervous system.

Both genes and other environmental factors influence disease susceptibility. One of the environmental factors that has been implicated in MS and autoimmune disease, such as type 1 diabetes, is vitamin D deficiency, in which patients have lower levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25-OHD3) in blood than do controls.

Previtamin D3 is produced in the skin, and turned into 25-OHD3 in the liver. In the kidney, skin and immune cells, 25-OHD3 is turned into bioactive 1,25(OH)2D3 by the enzyme coded by CYP27B1 (cytochrome P450 family 27 subfamily B peptide 1) on chromosome 12q13.1–3. 1,25(OH)2D3 binds to the vitamin D receptor, expressed in T cells and antigen-presenting cells. 1,25(OH)2D3 has a suppressive role in the adaptive immune system, decreasing T-cell and dendritic cell maturation, proliferation and differentiation, shifting the balance between T-helper 1 (Th1) and Th2 cells in favor of Th2 cells and increasing the suppressive function of regulatory T cells. Rs703842 in the 12q13–14 region was associated with MS in a recent study by the Australian and New Zealand Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (ANZgene).

We show associations with three SNPs in this region in our Swedish materials (2158 cases, 1759 controls) rs4646536, rs10877012 and rs10877015 (P=0.01, 0.01 and 3.5 × 10−3, respectively). We imputed rs703842 SNP and performed a joint analysis with the ANZgene results, reaching a significant association for rs703842 (P=5.1 × 10−11; odds ratio 0.83; 95% confidence interval 0.79–0.88).

Owing to its close association with 25-OHD3, our results lend further support to the role of vitamin D in MS pathology.

  1. 1Neuroimmunology Unit, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  2. 2Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
  3. 3Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence: E Sundqvist, Neuroimmunology Unit, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Center for Molecular Medicine L8:04, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17176, Sweden. Tel: +46 85 177 6258; Fax: +46 85 177 6248; E-mail: Emilie.Sundqvist@ki.se

Received 4 December 2009; Revised 19 March 2010; Accepted 4 June 2010; Published online 21 July 2010.

http://www.nature.com/ejhg/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ejhg2010113a.html

City vigil calls for Precious to stay

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 | Tags: , , , ,
Posted in External News Articles, Uncategorized

Supporters and friends of a 10-year-old girl and her mother fighting to stay in Scotland are to stage a vigil in the city the pair call home.

Precious Mhango, 10, and mum Florence, 32, were ordered to fly to London last Saturday and then on to Malawi, despite the pair saying they faced “extreme difficulties” if forced to return.

The pair, from Cranhill, chose not to board the flight and now face being detained then deported.

The vigil, which will be held on Monday on Glasgow’s Buchanan Street, aims to raise awareness of the Mhangos’ plight.

Glasgow SNP MSP Anne McLaughlin, who has been campaigning for Florence and Precious to be allowed to stay in Scotland, is helping to organise the event.

She said: “On Monday at 5.30pm, in conjunction with the Unity Centre, we are holding a Glasgow Fair Monday vigil for Florence and Precious.

“The vigil will take place at the top of Buchanan Street, at the bottom of the steps outside the Royal Concert Hall.

“We will be asking – on Fair Monday – what is fair about separating a mother and child?”

Florence and Precious – real name Tionge – entered Britain in May 2003, as dependants of Ms Mhango’s husband, who was in the UK on a student visa.

They had leave to remain until October 31, 2007.

Florence said her husband had been violent towards her in the past, but she hoped that a new life in London would bring a change.

When the violence continued she fled to Glasgow to stay with a friend.

The split from her husband meant she had no right to remain in Britain.

That means Florence, and Precious, who came to Britain aged three, have been told to return to Malawi.

In Malawi, grandchildren can be claimed by the father’s family and Florence now fears she will lose her daughter forever.

Ms McLaughlin, who has become a close friend of the family, added: “I would appeal to those of you who are able to be there, to come and show your support.

“This is not a political demonstration but a peaceful humanitarian vigil for two human beings who need our love and support.

“Therefore, although I expect many politicians and activists will be present, the speakers will be Florence and Precious’ friends.

“The people who know them best.”

More than 1,300 letters have been written to Home Secretary Theresa May urging her to allow the Mhangos to stay.

First Minister Alex Salmond and Glasgow Lord Provost Bob Winter are among the family’s supporters

A host of Glasgow MSPs, including Patricia Ferguson, Labour MSP for Maryhill and Bill Butler, Labour MSP for Anniesland, have spoken out, urging the UK government to let the family stay.

Researchers endorse, modify vitamin D theory of autism

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010 | Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in External News Articles

24 June 2010

A Scientific American article asks, “What if Vitamin D Deficiency is a Cause of Autism?” How could vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy cause autism, a genetic disease? Indeed, five researchers at Harvard, led by Dr. Dennis Kinney, recently endorsed and then modified the vitamin D theory of autism.

Very recently, Dr. Darryl Eyles, of the University of Queensland, added his name to growing list of scientists who agree that vitamin D deficiency plays an important role in autism. Writing in Acta Paediatrica, arguably the most read pediatric journal in the world, Dr. Eyles praised the vitamin D theory of autism as being “parsimonious,” with the animal studies he has conducted over the last decade.

For the last 15 years, geneticists have tried and failed to find a common structural genetic abnormality in autism. What they have found is evidence of genetic damage; the genetic code is not properly regulated in autism, with multiple genes not being expressed, probably due to an environmental injury. As Dr. Kinney reports, vitamin D’s mechanism of action is protection of the genome with direct regulation more than 1,000 human genes.

If the gestational and early childhood vitamin D deficiency theory of autism is true, the tragedy is more poignant in that physicians could prevent the disease with adequate daily doses of vitamin D during pregnancy and early childhood. Just as important, vitamin D’s mechanism of action implies a treatment effect in autistic children.

This month, Acta Paediatrica, published yet another article on vitamin D and autism. This paper is open access; the pdf is free to download. In the paper, Dr. Cannell reviews the evidence of vitamin D’s involvement in autism, including evidence published after his original 2007 paper.

SOURCE Vitamin D Council

The Times Covers Ryan’s Fight

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in External News Articles

The Times have today ran an article covering Ryan’s fight – read it here.

Schoolboy petitions MSP’s over vitamin D link to MS

kirsten-ryan-the-timesA Times investigation into the links between vitamin D deficiency and multiple sclerosis led a 14-year-old boy whose mother has the disease to petition Holyrood to provide a vitamin supplement to all children and pregnant women.

Ryan McLaughlin, from Glasgow, decided he had to do something after he read an exclusive report in The Times showing there was a direct interaction between vitamin D and a common genetic variant, which increased the possibility of MS being inherited.

His mother, Kirsten, 34, became ill with MS three years ago and earlier this year Ryan underwent tests after he showed symptoms of the disease.

His campaign, Shine on Scotland, has started an e-petition and has already won the backing of J.K. Rowling. “I am really honoured to support Ryan in his fantastic campaign,” the author said. “Ryan’s mother has MS as did my own mother. I only wish I had the gumption at 14 to do what Ryan is doing and get such an important issue raised in the Parliament.”

In addition to asking the Scottish government to provide vitamin D for children and pregnant women — in pills or in fortified milk or bread — Shine on Scotland is seeking clarification on the recommended daily allowance of the vitamin and a campaign to inform the public about its benefits in relation to MS.

The Times revealed in February that scientists at Oxford University had found what appears to be a genetic vulnerability to MS, apparently initiated by a lack of vitamin D. The World Health Organisation said that vitamin D supplements should be tested in Scotland “sooner rather than later”.

Ryan, who like his mother is a Taekwondo champion, said: “If everyone supports us by signing the e-petition, I am confident that we can bring about real change for future generations and help to prevent thousands of new cases of MS.”

Ryan’s father, Alan, 34, said that the family had been planning to move to Australia when his wife fell ill. She suffered nine relapses in 13 months and at one point could barely walk. Emigration became impossible but while on a holiday to Australia, Mrs McLaughlin’s health improved in the sunshine.

The family read the report in The Times linking vitamin D deficiency to the high incidence of MS and contacted Professor George Ebers at the University of Oxford, who forwarded them his research findings. Mr McLaughlin said: “Ryan and I sat and studied it. At the time he was waiting for tests for MS, because he was having trouble with his eyes and with spasms.

“He’d been watching J. K. Rowling being interviewed about her mother and he said to me, ‘Dad, you know the line in the film Braveheart about how you have just one chance to make a difference — well, I want to do something about MS so that people in future don’t have to suffer like Mum does every day’.”

The family gathered support from various charities and four weeks ago began their campaign. Ryan, who was found to be clear of MS after an MRI scan, made a poignant YouTube video and the e-petition was started.

Ryan has received messages of support from Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, and Kathleen McDermott, the Bafta Award-winning actress.

On June 16, he will lead 500 children on a march to the Scottish Parliament to lodge his petition.

Israel Leads The Way

Thursday, May 14th, 2009 | Posted in External News Articles, Uncategorized

According to the Jerusalem Post on the 27th April 2009

Finally, all dairy products to be fortified with Vitamin D

All milk and milk products in the country will be fortified with vitamin D, in a decision long awaited by public health experts, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Deficiency of the vitamin can result in osteoporosis (flimsy bones leading to fractures) and raise the risk for a wide variety of health problems, including dementia, heart and kidney diseases, chronic back pain, tooth loss, inflammatory bowel disease and chronic liver disease.

Optimal levels of vitamin D may also prevent the production of cancer cells and protect against specific autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

Senior Health Ministry officials have said for years that they were having trouble overcoming opposition from dairy companies – which sell milk fortified with vitamin D (and calcium) in cartons significantly more expensive than ordinary milk. But the ministry and the Israel Standards Institution finally joined forces to require the companies to go along.

The price of dairy products will not be raised to accommodate the fortification, as vitamin D is very cheap.

Dr. Itamar Grotto, the ministry’s deputy director-general in charge of public health services, told the Post that he wasn’t sure when the new regulations would go into effect, as companies have to adjust their products and packaging.

Maccabi Health Services recently began to encourage its general practitioners and family physicians to send all patients for vitamin D testing, after finding that 36 percent of blood samples tested in its labs were deficient in the essential vitamin (having less than 20 milligrams per milliliter, while 32 mgs. is regarded as desirable).

Maccabi director-general Dr. Ehud Kokia decided to take action after receiving a request from the Post to take the initiative.

Vitamin D testing is not performed during routine blood work unless it is specifically requested, and since awareness of the deficiency problem is low, few doctors and patients asked for it.

It has long been thought that those living in sunny Israel would have little problem with vitamin D deficiency because exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays produces the vitamin in the skin.

But Kokia told the Post that as lifestyles change and people spend more time indoors, while also covering themselves up more to reduce the risk of skin cancer and wrinkles, fortification was needed.

In most Western countries, even sunny ones, vitamin D enrichment of dairy products is routine.

Diabetics and the overweight are more likely to be deficient in vitamin D than others, but religious people who cover themselves up for reasons of modesty are also at high risk.

Prof. Ted Tulchinsky, a former ministry official and currently a food fortification and mother-and-child health expert at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health, has been pushing the ministry to fortify milk products, saying that the US made it mandatory in 1941.

The reason he gave for the ministry not working hard on fortification for many years is “lethargy, apathy and conservatism. The vitamin manufacturers don’t make big money from it. The ministry didn’t get around to it.”

About a decade ago, said Tulchinsky, the ministry examined cows for vitamin D and found none. He explained that decades ago, cows grazed in pastures and were exposed to the sun. But today (except for dairies selling organic milk), they are raised indoors or in shade, so they don’t produce the vitamin in their milk.

The American Pediatric Association recently informed all its members that everyone from birth through 18 years should get 400 International Units (IUs) of Vitamin D per day. But the Health Ministry recommends only giving newborns 400 IUs until the age of one year.

Meanwhile, demands by public health experts to fortify all flour and baked goods with folic acid to minimize the risk of neural tube defects in newborns have not yet been reflected in Health Ministry policy.

“We are working on it now, but it requires legislation, unlike the vitamin D fortification,” Grotto said.

MS Society Scotland supports Shine On

Friday, April 24th, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in External News Articles

During MS Week the MS Society Scotland will be supporting the launch of the Shine on Scotland campaign.

Shine On Scotland artice on MS Society Scotland

Daily Record news item about Vitamin D

Monday, April 20th, 2009 | Tags: , , ,
Posted in External News Articles

Daily Record story about the link between Vitamin D & MS.

Link to article

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