Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol 1, Issue 2 207-214, Copyright © 1982 by American College of Nutrition
Auto-immune complications of D-penicillamine--a possible result of zinc and magnesium depletion and of pyridoxine inactivation
M. S. Seelig
Long-term high-dosage penicillamine treatment of patients with advanced
stages of diseases with autoimmune components has resulted in very few
adverse reactions in a series of over 50 such patients also given selected
nutrients: pyridoxine, zinc and magnesium (which penicillamine inactivates
or chelates), and vitamins B1, B12, and E (which have sulfhydryl-protective
activity). The patients on this regimen have been essentially free of the
side effects that occur in about a third of patients treated with
penicillamine without such supplements. Reports of myasthenia gravis--a
disease with abnormalities of the thymus and of T-cells, as a side effect
of penicillamine--suggest that zinc, magnesium, and pyridoxine might be the
agents most likely to be protective. Pyridoxine is necessary for cellular
accumulation of zinc and magnesium, deficiencies of which have caused
thymic and other immunologic abnormalities. Whether the other vitamins
administered contribute to the favorable results requires further study.
