Effects of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) supplementation on systemic lupus erythematosus patients with hypovitaminosis D on serum pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-7, IFN-Gamma), anti-inflammatory cytokine (TGF-Beta) and anti-ds DNA levels

Abstract

A B S T R A C T Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease and can attack almost all organs and tissues of the human body. Beside genetic factors, environmental factors are thought to play a role, such as ultraviolet light, viral infections and smoking, causing a breakdown of self-tolerance which can trigger an autoimmune response. The study was conducted in the outpatient and inpatient units of the Rheumatology Division of the Department of Internal Medicine Saiful Anwar General Hospital/Faculty of medicine Universitas Brawijaya, Malang. Subjects were female patients, aged > 18 years who had been diagnosed as SLE by internist-rheumatologist based on the 1997 ACR criteria, with SLEDAI score > 3. After 3 months of supplementation, there was a significant decrease in serum levels of the three pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-17, IFN- gamma), as shown in table 3, compared to before treatment, as well as anti-dsDNA levels. Serum TGF-beta1 levels increased significantly, while 25 (OH) D3 levels also increased significantly.