Variation in The Vitamin D Receptor Gene is Associated With Multiple Sclerosis in an Australian Population

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) resulting in accumulating neurological disability. The disorder is more prevalent at higher latitudes. To investigate VDR gene variation using three intragenic restriction fragment length polymorphisms (Apa I, Taq I and Fok I) in an Australian MS case-control population, one hundred and four Australian MS patients were studied with patients classified clinically as Relapsing Remitting MS (RR-MS), Secondary Progressive MS (SP-MS) or Primary Progressive MS (PP-MS). Also, 104 age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched controls were investigated as a comparative group. Our results show a significant difference of genotype distribution frequency between the case and control groups for the functional exon 9 VDR marker Taq I (p_Gen = 0.016) and interestingly, a stronger difference for the allelic frequency (p_All = 0.0072). The Apa I alleles were also found to be associated with MS (p_All = 0.04) but genotype frequencies were not significantly different from controls (p_Gen = 0.1). The Taq and Apa variants are in very strong and significant linkage disequilibrium (D' = 0.96, P < 0.0001). The genotypic associations are strongest for the progressive forms of MS (SP-MS and PP-MS). Our results support a role for the VDR gene increasing

Relationship between fasting serum glucose, age, body mass index and serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D in postmenopausal women

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.comObjective: Because it has been reported that vitamin D, given to mother or infant, can prevent type I diabetes in children, that diabetes is more common in adults with low serum vitamin D and that insulin secretion and action are related to vitamin D levels in healthy young adults we examined the relationship between serum vitamin D metabolites and fasting serum glucose in patients attending our outpatient clinics. Design: Retrospective examination of convenience sample of postmenopausal women attending our osteoporosis clinics. Patients: A total of 753 postmenopausal women attending a university hospital outpatient clinic and not on any treatment known to affect glucose metabolism. Measurements: Body weight and height, serum 25- hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH) 2 D], serum PTH and fasting serum glucose. Results: On simple correlation fasting serum glucose was a positive function of age (P < 0·05), weight (P < 0·001) and body mass index (BMI) (P < 0·001) and a negative function of serum 25(OH)D (P < 0·001), but it was not significantly related to either serum 1,25(OH) 2 D, PTH or creatinine. When fasting serum glucose was regressed simultaneously on age, BMI and 25(OH)D, glucose was still an inverse function of 25(OH)D (P = 0·006). Conclusions: Fasting serum glucose increased as 25(OH)D levels fell throughout the range of serum 25(OH)D measured but the greatest increase was observed in those with 25(OH)D below 40 nmol/ l.Allan G. Need, Peter D. O’Loughlin, Michael Horowitz and B. E. Christopher Nordi

Endocrine and inflammatory markers as predictors of frailty

25 nmol/l and 1.72 (95% CI 1.19-2.47) for 25(OH)D 25-50 nmol/l vs. high levels of 25(OH)D. Of the nonfrail at T(1), 125 respondents (14.1%) became frail at T(2). After adjustment, moderately elevated CRP levels (3-10 microg/ml) (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.09-2.63) and low 25(OH)D (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.01-4.13) were associated with incident frailty. No consistent associations were observed for IL-6 and IGF-1. Conclusion Low 25(OH)D levels were strongly associated with prevalent and incident frailty; moderately elevated levels of CRP were associated with incident frailt

Vitamin D and gastrointestinal diseases: inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer

Over the past 5 years, there has been a rapid resurgence of interest in vitamin D outside of its traditional role in metabolic bone disease. Some nontraditional roles ascribed to vitamin D include anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating effects. These effects have led to possible implications in the pathophysiology of immune-mediated diseases including multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In addition, vitamin D insufficiency has been linked to higher rates of cancers including colon, prostate and breast cancers. Given these diverse associations of vitamin D and disease states, this review describes recent advances with regard to vitamin D and gastrointestinal diseases, in particular IBD and colorectal cancer