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Proper plasma levels of vitamin D to maximize NK cells function

serg1942

Senior Member
Messages
543
Location
Spain
Hi everybody,

In the past I have expressed my concern about supplementation with vitamin D, especially after carrying out a thorough review of the literature, and finding that the active form of vitamin D was highly immune-suppressive (suppressing pretty much all branches of immune system) . You can read this review here:

https://www.sfc-em-investigacion.com/download/file.php?id=1124

However, it is clear that vitamin D presents a pleimorphic effect , meaning that it acts differently at different dosages. Actually, physiological dosages of vitamin D are necessary to induce the secretion of natural anti-microbials which constitute a key part of our immune defence.

Well, I have just read a couple of very insightful studies, which shed some light to the question of what level of vitamin D is then advisable:

Interestingly, it seems that, increasing the plasma levels of 25-OH-vitamin D up to 65 ng/dl does significantly increase the anti-tumoral effects of NK cells:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30132083/

The same was shown by the same group of scientists for macrophages cytotoxicity:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25855493

This fits with the finding of this study where people with levels of 25-OH-vitamin D higher than 55 ng/mL showed up to 3.1 times less infection rates by SARS-COV-2:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239252

It's Important to note that when levels of vitamin D were raised up to 94.1 ng/dL, the functionality of NKs did decrease, so, it seems that there is a "sweet spot" level of vitamin D which maximizes the antiviral and anti-cancerous effets of the immune system, with no immune-suppressive effects. And this level could be around 65 ng/dL in plasma.

Hope this is useful,
Sergio
 

uglevod

Senior Member
Messages
220
Keep in mind that everything comes at a price.

In case of "Vit" D(secosteroid hormone), "NK maximizing" comes at a cost of monocytes/macrophages response inhibition from pathogen associated molecular patterns aka PAMPs stimulation - a shift from so called Th1 towards Th2.
 

serg1942

Senior Member
Messages
543
Location
Spain
Thank you @uglevod for your reply,

Could you please elaborate more? One of the studies I have cited actually demonstrates maximum phagocytic activity of macrophages and maximum cathelicidin secretion by macrophages with levels of 25-OH-D of 65 ng/dL, compared to lower levels (this is Th1 cell mediated response).

I know that vit D can depress the Th1 and promote M2 macrophages... But these 2 studies demonstrate that at levels of 65 ng/dL, this is not the case. And the same would apply to PAMP recognition...

Thank you!
Sergio
 

Cipher

Administrator
Messages
838
Between 40-60 ng/ml seems to be the sweet spot when it comes to all-cause mortality, so that's in line with what you found. :thumbsup:
vitamin-d-infographic.jpg
 

gbells

Improved ME from 2 to 6
Messages
1,491
Location
Alexandria, VA USA
It's not realistic to think that ME patients who have EBV and other viruses are going to have good NK cell function because it is blocked at many checkpoints, most importantly Nf-kB in the WBCs. So you end up having viruses that are phagositized but not digested and deficiency of antibodies. EBV also blocks attachment of antibodies onto the infected cells.

As a lupus ME patient who wants to trigger maximum apoptosis I aim to dose once per week for convenience and to lessen the immunosuppression of vit D3 (a secosteroid). Per appetite based dosing as an adult who eats fish regularly and gets very little sunlight due to avoidance for lupus my appetite for vit D3 is 1000-2000 iu once per week. When infected by covid I increased it to 4,000 iu twice weekly for two weeks to enhance the cytokine reducing effect.

I have vit D3 checked occassionally by my PCP and this is where I have good blood levels so it confirms the appetite validity.
 
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