Can Vitamin D Supplementation Improve Inflammation in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients?

Abstract

(1) Background: Studies indicate that vitamin D (VitD) may reduce inflammation in multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of the study was to assess the effect of supplementation with different doses of VitD on inflammation in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients. (2) Methods: The effect of 6-month supplementation with different doses of oral VitD (2000 IU/day) in a high-dose group (HD, n = 23) and a low-dose group (15,960 IU/month) (LD, n = 29) on selected markers of inflammation was assessed in 52 RRMS patients. (3) Results: Females constituted the majority of participants (63.46%). The median age [years] was 39.5 [34.5-49.8] and 47 [40.0-55.0] in the HD and LD groups, respectively. Significant differences were observed in age (p = 0.028), body weight (p = 0.014) and height (p = 0.001) between the study groups. Considering the BMI, statistically significant differences were not found (p = 0.496). The median 25(OH)D concentration [ng/mL] increased from 23.023 [15.578-25.76] in the HD group and 28.318 [20.644-32.232] in the LD group to 29.819 [24.937-38.064] and 30.837 [25.382-36.789], respectively (p < 0.01), and the increase was significantly higher in the HD group (p = 0.01). Hypovitaminosis D was found in most patients (71.2%) initially, and serum VitD levels were still <30.0 ng/mL in 46.2% of the participants at the follow-up. A significant increase in the levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-17A, IL-22, IL-23 and TNF -α [pg/mL] and a decrease in IL-10 levels were reported during the study (p < 0.01). A significant positive correlation was observed between 25(OH)D serum levels and sCD40L (R = 0.33; p < 0.05) and TNF-α (R = 0.28; p < 0.05), and a significant negative correlation was reported between 25(OH)D and IL-23 (R = -0.32; p < 0.01) at the beginning of the study. (4) Conclusions: In RRMS patients, the doses of VitD were probably too low to induce beneficial effects on inflammation. Further studies are warranted to determine the effect of VitD supplementation on inflammatory markers in MS patients.