Serum 25-OH vitamin D level in treatment-naïve systemic lupus erythematosus patients: Relation to disease activity, IL-23 and IL-17.

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the vitamin D status in treatment-naïve SLE patients and its association with clinical and laboratory markers of disease activity, including serum levels of IL-17 and IL-23. Methods Fifty-seven treatment-naïve SLE patients along with 42 matched controls were included. SLEDAI score was used to estimate disease activity. Serum levels of 25(OH) D, IL-17 and IL-23 were measured. Results The median level of 25(OH) D in SLE patients (40.8; 4-70 ng/ml) was significantly lower than in the controls (47; 25-93 ng/ml) ( P = 0.001). A total of 38.6% of SLE cases had 25 (OH) D levels < 30 ng/ml (hypovitaminosis D) vs. 4.8% of the controls ( P < 0.0001). Apart from thrombocytopenia, vitamin D was not associated with clinical signs of SLE. There were negative correlations between serum 25(OH) D and serum levels of IL-17, IL-23 and ANA (rho = -0.5, -0.8, -0.5, P ≤ 0.05) in SLE patients. Conclusion Hypovitaminosis D is prevalent in treatment naïve SLE patients. It contributes to ANA antibody production and is associated with high serum levels of IL-23 and IL-17; thus they may trigger the inflammatory process in SLE.

Polymorphisms of α1-antitrypsin and Interleukin-6 genes and the progression of hepatic cirrhosis in patients with a hepatitis C virus infection.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection represents a serious health problem. The -174 G/C mutation in the pro inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) is associated with developing liver diseases. Likewise, the S and Z mutations in the serine protease inhibitor α1-antitrypsin (A1AT) are associated with pulmonary emphysema and/or liver cirrhosis. We explored the distribution of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-6 and A1AT genes in chronic HCV-infected patients and evaluated their impact on the progression of liver cirrhosis. One hundred and fifty Egyptian HCV-infected patients together with 100 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. The patient groups were subdivided into chronic hepatitis patients (n = 85) and cirrhotic patients (n = 65). The SNP of IL-6 (-174 G/C, rs1800795), A1AT Z mutation (342 Glu/Lys, rs28929474) and A1AT S mutation (264 Glu/Val, rs17580) were determined using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Cirrhotic patients exhibited significantly increased frequency of the A1AT S allele compared with the controls (34.6 vs. 5.0%), while the chronic hepatitis patients showed a higher frequency of the A1AT Z allele compared with the controls (14.7 vs. 2.5%). Remarkably, IL-6 (CC genotype) was detected only in the chronic hepatitis patients. Multivariate regression analysis showed that aspartate transaminase (AST) and the S alleles of A1AT, represented as SS+MS genotypes, were significantly independent predictors for development of liver cirrhosis. We concluded that inheritance of deficient S and Z alleles of the A1AT gene but not IL-6 (-174 G/C), were associated with progressive liver diseases.

Comparison of vitamin E, L-carnitine and melatonin in ameliorating carbon tetrachloride and diabetes induced hepatic oxidative stress.

This study aimed to investigate whether treatments with vitamin E, L-carnitine and melatonin can protect against CCl(4) and diabetes-induced hepatic oxidative stress. Hepatic oxidative stress was performed in rats through 50% v/v carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) (1 ml/kg/3 days, i.p.), and through diabetes mellitus induced by streptozotocin (STZ) (40 mg/kg, i.p.). Vitamin E (100 mg/kg/day, i.p), L-carnitine (300 mg/kg/day, i.p.) and melatonin (10 mg/kg/day, i.p.) were injected for a period of 6 weeks. Thereafter, changes in serum glucose level, liver function tests, hepatic malondialdehyde (MDA) content, hepatic reduced glutathione (GSH) content, hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and serum total antioxidant capacity (TAC) level were evaluated. In CCl(4)-induced liver fibrosis, the efficacy order was melatonin > L-carnitine > vitamin E, while in STZ-induced diabetes, the efficacy order was vitamin E > or = melatonin > L-carnitine. In conclusion, these data indicate that low dose of melatonin is more effective than high doses of vitamin E and L-carnitine in reducing hepatic oxidative stress induced by CCl(4) and diabetes. Moreover, the potent effect of vitamin E in ameliorating diabetes can be linked not only to the antioxidant actions, but also to the superior effect in reducing diabetes-induced hyperglycaemia. Meanwhile, potency of L-carnitine was nearly the same in CCl(4) and diabetes-induced liver damage.