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Vitamin C Supplementation and Immune System: a Metaregression Analysis on leukocyte chemotactic responsiveness
Author(s) -
Vecchio Maria Gabriella,
Minto Clara,
Gregori Dario
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.lb346
Subject(s) - chemotaxis , meta analysis , immune system , analysis of variance , vitamin c , medicine , vitamin e , immunology , vitamin , biology , antioxidant , biochemistry , receptor
Background Vitamin C is an important antioxidant. Study conducted revealed that vitamin C can alter certain cellular immune functions and humoral factors both in vivo and in vitro. The aim of this study was to evaluate, through a meta‐analysis of clinical studies, the association between Vitamin C supplementation and leukocyte chemotaxis. Methods Articles published until December 2014 were identified by searching the database Pubmed, using the string “Vitamins”, limited to “clinical trials” and “humans”. 18091 records were retrieved. Out of them, studies with detailed information of supplementation of Vitamin C and chemotactic index were retrained for the analysis. A meta‐regression model for leukocyte chemotaxis has been estimated using Generalized Least Squares, accounting for within‐study correlation (assuming a Continuous Auto‐Regressive of first order structure) and weights proportional to study variance and study size. Effect of dose has been estimated as Cumulative Effect (dose in mg per day over the days of study duration). Results 4 studies (42 patients) followed for an average time of 33 days were included in the meta‐analysis for leukocyte chemotaxis evaluation. A non‐significant dose‐response relationship has been found between Vitamin C supplementation and Chemotactic index.Num. Studies Effect S.E. p‐valueDose on leukocyte chemotaxis 4 ‐0.24 0.000019 0.901Conclusion The results suggest that Vitamin C supplementation may not have beneficial effects on leukocyte chemotaxis. However, given the high variability in study estimates, further researches are necessary to confirm the present conclusion.