Using neopterin to test for macrophage activation and Vitamin D production.

[Guest guest]

Hi -

Vitamin D production by macrophages requires activation by either

IFN-Gamma or LPS. Such activation is known to produce other

byproducts, one of them being neopterin. Testing for neopterin is

apparently simple and inexpensive. Has anybody ever suggested that

people get tested for this, as a way of confirming the possibility of

TH1 production of vitamin D?

While by itself, elevated levels is not a guarantee that such

production exists, the lack of elevated neopterin rules out macrophage

activation, and thus would semm to me to rule out vitamin D production.

Neopterin levels are elevated in all diseases where known macrophage

vitamin D production occurs, including sarcoidosis. Two studies on

CFS have shown elevated serum levels in some people, but I don't have

access to the actual text of the studies, so I'm not sure just how

much it is elevated, or how prevalent it was in patients tested.

I found no studies that show that it is elevated in either the serum

or urine of Lyme patients. One study has shown that neopterin levels

have been found elevated in the CSF (brains) of patients with Lyme

neuroborreliosis and some patients with late Lyme encephalopathy,

Neopterin has not been shown to be elevated in fibromyalgia.

For more fun facts that relate to the MP, feel free to read my web

page my totally revised web page:

http://web.mit.edu/london/www/universe.html

I just added to it more information about the many ways that Benicar

and reducing vitamin D can inhibit and reverse granuloma formation.

This has become the main focus of my web page, because once one

understands this, one can see why the treatment is effective for

sarcoidosis, and why it may not be as applicable or effective for

other conditions.

As an aside, another byproduct of macrophage activation, known as IDO,

is capable of degrading the amino acid tryptophan. IDO levels

correlate with neopterin levels, The reduction of tryptophan by IDO

appears to be an important anti-microbial effect. It also has an

immunosuppressive effect on T cells, which it is theorized to be a

negative feedback loop to modulate immune responses. However, the

degradation of tryptophan, may not only decrease tryptophan levels,

but may slso produce neurotoxic tryptophan metabolites, that can have

a significant negative effect on neurological and brain functioning.

Indeed, associations have been found between depression and elevated

neopterin levels. Fun stuff.

Mark