Depleting intracellular calcium stores a good idea?

[AdamS]

Hi all,

I was reading the recent Australian research here about defective calcium channels in ME/CFS patients and then stumbled upon this:

Depletion of intracellular calcium stores activates a calcium current in mast cells
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v355/n6358/abs/355353a0.html

This seems to link up with what the Australian study suggests about having to deplete the calcium stores first. I'm no expert and usually just try to piece together info out of desperation because I want to try get better but does this idea of depletion (like the way B cells are depleted using Rituximab) hold the key to flicking the switch forcing a reset in ME/CFS?

Does anyone think it would be possible/worth trying to deplete calcium stores then boost TRPM3 using Pregnenolone or something similar? Or is it waaay too soon to assume that would help ME/CFS sufferers in any way? (I have no idea how you would safely deplete calcium stores because ionomycin looks pretty dangerous but just thought i'd raise the question).

Cheers,

AdamS

 

[Marky90]

Way to soon..

Someone else might say otherwise, but yeah. I`ll stand by that.

 

[alex3619]

I am not sure we can safely deplete calcium stores, period. How would you do that? Which drug? How would you ensure safety? You cannot just use diet to do this, you might leach calcium from your bones and wind up with hypocalcemia which could be fatal.

We need a specific mechanism to target with a specific drug. We are most likely at least several years from being even able to guess what that would be. Then there will be clinical trials. Several years after that we might have a treatment, if it gets a green light at every step.

This is also not just about elemental calcium, its about ionized calcium I think, with a double positive charge.

 

[AdamS]

I am not sure we can safely deplete calcium stores, period. How would you do that? Which drug? How would you ensure safety? You cannot just use diet to do this, you might leach calcium from your bones and wind up with hypocalcemia which could be fatal.

We need a specific mechanism to target with a specific drug. We are most likely at least several years from being even able to guess what that would be. Then there will be clinical trials. Several years after that we might have a treatment, if it gets a green light at every step.

This is also not just about elemental calcium, its about ionized calcium I think, with a double positive charge.

Yeah ionomycin was used in the study but it looks like it would only be safe to use in the lab! Seems like i'm getting ahead of myself haha!

 

[Gingergrrl]

I was reading the recent Australian research here about defective calcium channels in ME/CFS patients and then stumbled upon this:

I wish I could understand all of this stuff better b/c I have the calcium channel autoantibody (and a calcium channelopathy) and we are trying to deplete the antibody with current and future treatments. I have no clue how depleting calcium itself would relate to this. But I really wish I understood it all better.

 

[alex3619]

Antibody depletion strategies are on much better scientific ground than ionized calcium manipulation. There are drugs that can manipulate ionized calcium but they are blunt instruments, and likely to cause severe harm if misused. In theory calcium channel blockers would block calcium, but as this is a very problematic class of drugs and it would in no way help anyone with an antibody induced calcium channelopathy.

 

[Gingergrrl]

Antibody depletion strategies are on much better scientific ground than ionized calcium manipulation.

That makes total sense and is what I figured!

In theory calcium channel blockers would block calcium, but as this is a very problematic class of drugs and it would in no way help anyone with an antibody induced calcium channelopathy.

Thanks for confirming this and all three neuros that I saw last year told me that I should never take a CCB b/c of my autoantibody. I have read that CCB's block the "L-type calcium channels" and my autoantibody is to the "N-type" but I would never risk it regardless. This issue is discussed often in a group I belong to for people with my autoantibody. Two of the Neuros that I consulted with told me not to even take Magnesium b/c it can block the CA+ channels. But my Mg blood test recently dropped very low so I am back to taking it 2x/day again and do not notice anything negative. But would never take a CCB and this would be very risky IMO.