Metabolism is that simple, huh?
Posted on 11/10/2005 8:54:43 PM PST by neverdem
A substance found in many foods, including turkey, can suppress an overactive immune system, researchers are reporting.
The substance, tryptophan, produces a breakdown product in the body that, in the study, reversed paralysis in mice with an experimental form of multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the fatty cells that insulate neurons.
"I have always been a skeptic regarding the interaction of diet and immunity," said Dr. Lawrence Steinman, the chairman of the immunology program at Stanford, who led the study, published in Science last week. "But now I'm getting smacked in the head by my own research."
Dr. Marc Feldmann, a professor of medicine at Imperial College London and an authority on autoimmune disorders, called the study "very interesting and quite encouraging."
But he said the next step, and a very large one, was to find out if the treatment is safe for humans.
Tryptophan is one of 20 building blocks, called amino acids, that the body uses to construct proteins. But unlike many other amino acids, tryptophan is not made by the body, and it must be gotten from foods.
Once tryptophan is consumed, it breaks down via different metabolic pathways to form a huge number of proteins and hormones, including serotonin, which elevates mood, and melatonin, which promotes sleep - a partial explanation for the nap that often follows Thanksgiving dinner. Tryptophan also helps make an essential vitamin, niacin.
Yet another breakdown pathway of tryptophan produces compounds called kynurenines, which have been shown to suppress the immune response in pregnant animals, Dr. Steinman said. Kynurenines bear a remarkable resemblance in chemical structure to a drug called Tranilast, sold in Japan to treat allergies.
When the Stanford researchers gave the drug, as well as pure kynurenines, to mice with a form of multiple sclerosis, inflammation was drastically...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Metabolism is that simple, huh?
I love my tryptophan fix every Thanksgiving and Christmas.
For a minute there, I thought the article was about the first scientific breakthrough to come from an Islamic country.
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be added to, or removed from, the (brand new!) Multiple Sclerosis ping list.
Compound in Turkey May Help Treat Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis Gene Cluster Pinpointed
Estrogen Levels May Play a Role in Women's Risk of Multiple Sclerosis**
**Unfortunately for me, the reverse was true than stated in this article. When I was pregnant with my now-3 year old, my MS became much worse and continued as such through a month or so after delivery, when I started to improve. It's quite uncommon to experience what I went through, but honestly, it was preferable to improve AFTER she was born than to deteriorate once she arrived! :)
Thanks for the informative ping, bump.
OLA
Thanks for the ping to this timely and interesting article!
Thanks for the ping. This is a great article full of information & hope.
This is the same action as Predisone and a lot of other medications currently used for MS and other autoimmune problems. It can reduce inflammation temporarily, but does nothing to alter the eventual course of the disease.
I'm convinced that MS and the other auto-immune diseases have an infectious etiology, and suppressing the immune system will be found to be the wrong approach, except as a temporary fix for extreme inflammation.
I don't have a nytimes login, so I didn't read the whole article. However I doubt they've had enough time to do a 10 year study on this, which is what would be needed to see if it really makes any difference to a MS patient.
The major thing that convinces me of the infectious etiology of autoimmune disease is that I'm almost cured of my sarcoidosis by an antibiotic therapy. I've had the sarcoid for at least 22 years, and have been taking antibiotics for about two years and have had dramatic improvement.
Thanks Luke. I knew we could count on your informed analysis. Unfortunately, too many times we're satisfied with a quick fix...been there myself.
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