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Lupus – vitamin D is essential in preventing and modulating it – May 2016

Eppur Si Muove:
vitamin D is essential in preventing and modulating SLE

Lupus May 2016 vol. 25 no. 6 563-572

S Azrielant1, Y Shoenfeld1,2⇑
1The Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
2Incumbent of the Laura Schwarz-Kip Chair for Research of Autoimmune Diseases, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
Yehuda Shoenfeld, Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer 5265601, Israel. Email: shoenfel at post.tau.ac.il

Systemic lupus erythematosus (abbreviated SLE or lupus) is a systemic autoimmune disease, with genetic, immunologic, hormonal, and environmental factors.1 One of the environmental factors that has been studied over the years is vitamin D, which is created in the human body in response to exposure to sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

This review aims at examining findings from recent years, specifically 2013–2014, regarding the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and SLE flares, severity, and clinical manifestation, as well as to examine the treatment options derived from this relationship.

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See also VitaminDWiki

The TOP articles in Lupus and Vitamin D are listed here:

The TOP articles in Autoimmune and Vitamin D: (LUPUS is an autoimmune disease)


Vitamin D is one of the SLE treatments - June 2016

Immunomodulators in SLE: Clinical evidence and immunologic actions.
J Autoimmun. 2016 Jun 28. pii: S0896-8411(16)30088-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jaut.2016.06.010. [Epub ahead of print]
Durcan L1, Petri M2.
1Division of Rheumatology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Electronic address: laurajanedurcan at hotmail.com.
2Division of Rheumatology, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease. Current treatment strategies rely heavily on corticosteroids, which are in turn responsible for a significant burden of morbidity, and immunosuppressives which are limited by suboptimal efficacy, increased infections and malignancies. There are significant deficiencies in our immunosuppressive armamentarium, making immunomodulatory therapies crucial, offering the opportunity to prevent disease flare and the subsequent accrual of damage. Currently available immunomodulators include prasterone (synthetic dehydroeipandrosterone), vitamin D, hydroxychloroquine and belimumab. These therapies, acting via numerous cellular and cytokine pathways, have been shown to modify the aberrant immune responses associated with SLE without overt immunosuppression.

  • Vitamin D is important in SLE and supplementation appears to have a positive impact on disease activity particularly proteinuria
  • Belimumab has specific immunomodulatory properties and is an effective therapy in those with specific serological and clinical characteristics predictive of response.
  • Hydroxychloroquine is a crucial background medication in SLE with actions in many molecular pathways.
    It has disease specific effects in reducing flare, treating cutaneous disease and inflammatory arthralgias in addition to other effects such as reduced thrombosis, increased longevity, improved lipids, better glycemic control and blood pressure.
  • Dehydroeipandrosterone is also an immunomodulator in SLE which can have positive effects on disease activity and has bone protective properties.

This review outlines the immunologic actions of these drugs and the clinical evidence supporting their use.