title: Vitamin D levels in Indian systemic lupus erythematosus patients: association with disease activity index and interferon alpha.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low levels of vitamin D have been associated with several autoimmune disorders including multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The major source of vitamin D is sunlight but exposure of SLE patients to UV rays has been shown to exacerbate disease pathology. Studies in various populations have shown an association between low vitamin D levels and higher SLE disease activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 129 patients who fulfilled American College of Rheumatology criteria in the study. There were 79 treatment-naïve cases and 50 patients who were under treatment for underlying SLE. There were 100 healthy subjects from similar geographical areas included as controls. Plasma 25-OH vitamin D₃ and interferon (IFN)-α levels were quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The gene expression level of IFN-α was determined by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Plasma 25-OH vitamin D₃ significantly correlated in an inverse manner with systemic lupus erythematosus disease activity index (SLEDAI) scores (P <0.0001, r = -0.42), anti-dsDNA (P <0.0001, r = -0.39), plasma IFN-α (P <0.0001, r = -0.43) and levels of IFN-α gene expression (P = 0.0009, r = -0.45). Further, plasma levels of IFN-α positively correlated with gene expression of IFN-α (P <0.0001, r = 0.84). Treatment-naïve SLE patients displayed significantly higher plasma levels of IFN-α compared to patients under treatment (P <0.001) and controls (P <0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest an important role of vitamin D in regulating disease activity in SLE patients and the need to supplement vitamin D in their treatment.
authors: Manamita
authors: M
authors: Mandal
authors: Rina
authors: R
authors: Tripathy
authors: Aditya K
authors: AK
authors: Panda
authors: Sarit S
authors: SS
authors: Pattanaik
authors: Simanchal
authors: S
authors: Dakua
authors: Anjan Kumar
authors: AK
authors: Pradhan
authors: Soumen
authors: S
authors: Chakraborty
authors: Balachandran
authors: B
authors: Ravindran
authors: Bidyut K
authors: BK
authors: Das
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000097:blood*; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D016898:Interferon-alpha; D014807:Vitamin D