A scarlet pimpernel for the resolution of inflammation? The role of supra-therapeutic doses of cobalamin, in the treatment of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic or traumatic shock

SummaryCobalamin carrier proteins,the Transcobalamins (TCS), are elevated during trauma, infections and chronic inflammatory conditions. This remains un-explained. It is proposed that such TC elevations signal a need for cobalamin central to the resolution of inflammation. Thus Cobalamin may regulate the transcription factor, NFκB, activation or suppression of which determines the inflammatory response and its resolution. Such regulation may involve at least 5 separate mechanisms: (i) hormone-like regulation of TNFα, through reduction of excess NO by cobalamin, as well as through the selective inhibition, in tandem with glutathione, of inducible nitric oxide synthase; (ii) quenching of nitric oxide radicals and reactive oxygen species, enhanced by cobalamin’s glutathione sparing effect; (iii) the promotion of acetylcholine synthesis, central to the neuro-immune cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway; (iv) the promotion of oxidative phosphorylation; (v) and a bacteriostatic role of the TCS released by neutrophil secondary granules during phagocytosis, which also appears to modulate the inflammatory response. TC elevations are dependent on NFκB activation, through crosstalk between NFκB and Sp1, another member of the helix-loop-helix protein family, which directly mediates transcription of the TCII gene. Sp1 also has binding sites on the TNFα and EGF gene promoters. NFκB may thus ensure sufficient cobalamin to determine its own eventual suppression. Cobalamin’s established regulation of EGF may additionally preserve normal function of macrophages and the coagulation cascade in wound healing. By regulating NFκB, Cobalamin may also be the as yet unidentified mediator needed to potentiate the anti-inflammatory action of eicosanoids derived from ω-3 essential fatty acids. Moreover, animal and human clinical data suggests that high dose cobalamin may prove a promising approach to SIRS/sepsis/septic and traumatic shock.