Vitamin D, Curcumin May Benefit Patients With Alzheimer's Disease

UCLA scientists and colleagues from UC Riverside and the Human BioMolecular Research Institute have found that vitamin D, together with a natural compound found in turmeric spice called curcumin, may help stimulate the immune system to clear the brain of amyloid beta, which forms the plaques considered the hallmark of Alzheimer's disease.

The early research findings, which appear in the July issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, may lead to new approaches in preventing and treating Alzheimer's by utilizing the property of vitamin D, both alone and together with curcumin to boost the immune system in protecting the brain against amyloid beta.

Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for bone and immune system health; its main source is sunshine, and it is synthesized through the skin. Deficiencies may occur during winter months or in those who spend a lot of time indoors, such as Alzheimer's patients. "We hope that vitamin D3 and curcumin, both naturally occurring nutrients, may offer new preventive and treatment possibilities for Alzheimer's disease," explained a leading researcher at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

Using blood samples from nine Alzheimer's patients, one patient with mild cognitive impairment and three healthy control subjects, scientists isolated monocyte cells, which transform into macrophages that act as the immune system's clean-up mechanism, traveling through the brain and body and gobbling up waste products, including amyloid beta. Researchers incubated the macrophages with amyloid beta, vitamin D3 and curcumin.

The team discovered that curcuminoids enhanced the surface binding of amyloid beta to macrophages and that vitamin D strongly stimulated the uptake and absorption of amyloid beta in macrophages in a majority of patients.

Previous research by the team demonstrated that the immune genes are associated with the immune system's ability to better ingest amyloid beta. In this earlier work, it was shown that there are two types of Alzheimer's patients: Type 1 patients, who respond positively to curcuminoids, and Type II patients, who do not.

Since vitamin D and curcumin work differently with the immune system, we may find that a combination of the two or each used alone may be more effective, depending on the individual patient. No dosage of vitamin D or curcumin can be recommended at this point. Larger vitamin D and curcumin studies with more patients are planned, the researchers noted.

The study was funded by the Human BioMolecular Research Institute, the Alzheimer's Association and MP Biomedicals LLC, a global life sciences and diagnostics company dedicated to Alzheimer's disease research.


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