Could Metabolomics Clarify the Multiple Sclerosis–Vitamin D Metabolites Relationship?

Abstract

Copyright: © 2016 Luque de Castro MD. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. It has been accepted for more than 30 years that multiple sclerosis (MS) is determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Among the latter, Epstein–Barr virus infection, cigarette smoking and concentration of vitamin D are the most remarkable [1,2]. The deficiency of vitamin D as a risk factor for multiple sclerosis (MS) was proposed, in principle, to explain a latitude gradient in MS prevalence that correlates with ultraviolet radiation duration and intensity as the main source of vitamin D in most populations [3]. More than 30 years later and after huge amounts of research and publications on the vitamin D–MS relationship the opinion of scientists working in this field is that further work is needed to determine the optimal vitamin D dose for MS prevention or treatment [4-8]. When high doses of vitamin D have been used the treatment has never proved effective or safe. Attracted by the option of a “natural” and “curative” treatment for MS, even neurological or systemic complications were observed while high doses of vitamin D were being used [9,10].