More sunlight, vitamin D and Multiple Sclerosis research

Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison designed a study distinguishing the role vitamin D and UV light play in explaining the high rate of MS in people who live away from the equator.

The results of this study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, has the reseachers looking to see if the immune regulation is resulted directly from the UV, indirectly from the creation of vitamin D, or both.

Vitamin D may reduce the symptoms of MS, says Hector DeLuca, Steenbock Research Professor of Biochemistry at University of Wisconsin-Madison, but he and author of the study, Bryan Beckland, are wondering if sunlight plays a bigger role.

"Since the 1970s, a lot of people have believed that sunlight worked through vitamin D to reduce MS. It's true that large doses of the active form of vitamin D can block the disease in the animal model. That causes an unacceptably high level of calcium in the blood, but we know that people at the equator don't have this high blood calcium, even though they have a low incidence of MS. So it seems that something other than vitamin D could explain this geographic relationship," says DeLuca.

Researchers exposed mice to moderate levels of UV radiation for a week and then intiated the disease  by injecting the protein.  Afterword, they irradiated the mice every day or second or third day.  The exposure was the equivalent to two hours of direct summer sun.

This exposure to UV didn't change how many mice got a MS like disease, but it did help with the symptoms of the disease.  It was shown, especially, in the mice that were treated with UV every other day.

The researchers also were able to find that, although the UV exposure did increase the level of vitamin D, this did not, by itself, explain the reduced MS symptoms.  It is still not clear what role it might play in their current study.

"We are looking to identify what compounds are produced in the skin that might play a role, but we honestly don't know what is going on. Somehow it makes the animal either tolerate what's going on, or have some reactive mechanism that blocks the autoimmune damage," said DeLuca.

DeLuca is stressing that the study may or may not lead to a new way towards treatment.  "There are several ways this could go. If we can find out what the UV is producing, maybe we could give that as a medicine. In the short term, if we can define a specific wavelength of light that is active, and it does not overlap with the wavelengths that cause cancer, we could expose patients who have been diagnosed with MS to that wavelength."

A question asked regarding the normal avoiding of excessive sun exposure should be changed and DeLuca said, "If you have an early bout with MS, then you have to think about your options. Remember, this is just experimental work at this stage. Whether it can be translated into practical applications on MS remains to be seen."

"During the summer, I spend a lot of time outdoors.  Camping, swimming, boating, laying in the sun a lot," says Linda Haven of Lima, Ohio.  "It's just that I have to have access to water so that I can cool off or I would useless to my family. As it is, I have to rest for a few hours after it's all over for the day."

"We let her rest for awhile, while me and our girls take care of whatever needs done, " says Brad Haven, her husband. "But after she rests, she is ready to "go" again and is in a great mood, so who knows, maybe there is something to this."

Sources: http://www.physorg.com/news188487865 - Pysorg.Com; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com - The Times of India/Health

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