TY - JOUR

T1 - Zinc in multiple sclerosis

T2 - A systematic review and meta-analysis

AU - Bredholt, Mikkel

AU - Fredriksen, Jette Lautrup

PY - 2016

Y1 - 2016

N2 - In the last 35 years, zinc (Zn) has been examined for its potential role in the disease multiple sclerosis (MS). This review gives an overview of the possible role of Zn in the pathogenesis of MS as well as a meta-analysis of studies having measured Zn in serum or plasma in patients with MS. Searching the databases PubMed and EMBASE as well as going through reference lists in included articles 24 studies were found measuring Zn in patients with MS. Of these, 13 met inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The result of the meta-analysis shows a reduction in serum or plasma Zn levels in patients with MS with a 95% CI of [-3.66, -0.93] and a p value of .001 for the difference in Zn concentration in mM. One of six studies measuring cerebrospinal fluid, Zn levels found a significant increase in patients with MS with controls. The studies measuring whole blood and erythrocyte Zn levels found up to several times higher levels of Zn in patients with MS compared with healthy controls with decreasing levels during attacks in relapsing-remitting MS patients. Future studies measuring serum or plasma Zn are encouraged to analyze their data through homogenous MS patient subgroups on especially age, sex, and disease subtype since the difference in serum or plasma Zn in these subgroups have been found to be significantly different. It is hypothesized that local alterations of Zn may be actively involved in the pathogenesis of MS.

AB - In the last 35 years, zinc (Zn) has been examined for its potential role in the disease multiple sclerosis (MS). This review gives an overview of the possible role of Zn in the pathogenesis of MS as well as a meta-analysis of studies having measured Zn in serum or plasma in patients with MS. Searching the databases PubMed and EMBASE as well as going through reference lists in included articles 24 studies were found measuring Zn in patients with MS. Of these, 13 met inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. The result of the meta-analysis shows a reduction in serum or plasma Zn levels in patients with MS with a 95% CI of [-3.66, -0.93] and a p value of .001 for the difference in Zn concentration in mM. One of six studies measuring cerebrospinal fluid, Zn levels found a significant increase in patients with MS with controls. The studies measuring whole blood and erythrocyte Zn levels found up to several times higher levels of Zn in patients with MS compared with healthy controls with decreasing levels during attacks in relapsing-remitting MS patients. Future studies measuring serum or plasma Zn are encouraged to analyze their data through homogenous MS patient subgroups on especially age, sex, and disease subtype since the difference in serum or plasma Zn in these subgroups have been found to be significantly different. It is hypothesized that local alterations of Zn may be actively involved in the pathogenesis of MS.

KW - Matrix metalloproteinases

KW - Meta-analysis

KW - Multiple sclerosis

KW - Plasma

KW - Serum

KW - Zinc

U2 - 10.1177/1759091416651511

DO - 10.1177/1759091416651511

M3 - Review

C2 - 27282383

AN - SCOPUS:84973665077

VL - 8

SP - 1

EP - 9

JO - A S N Neuro

JF - A S N Neuro

SN - 1759-0914

IS - 3

ER -