Selenium and vitamin E status: impact on viral pathogenicity and mutability

[Guest guest]

Those of us who don't worship at Offit's altar in the High Church of

Most Holy Vaccinology might wonder if - in a child with low selenium

and/or low vitamin-E, the so-called " attenuated " vaccinal virus might

mutate into a pathogenic strain.

- - - -

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/137/5/1338

J Nutr. 2007 May;137(5):1338-40.

*

Selenium and vitamin E status: impact on viral pathogenicity*.

Beck MA.

Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

27599-7461, USA. melinda_beck@...

Selenium (Se), an essential trace element, and vitamin E, a lipid

soluble antioxidant, are important mediators for protection against

oxidative stress. Recent work has demonstrated that deficiencies in

either Se or vitamin E result in increased viral pathogenicity and

altered immune responses. Furthermore, deficiencies in either Se or

vitamin E results in specific viral mutations, changing relatively

benign viruses into virulent ones. Thus, host nutritional status should

be considered a driving force for the emergence of new viral strains or

newly pathogenic strains of known viruses.

PMID: 17449602

Related articles

*http://tinyurl.com/2fy9dr*