Cytokine response to vitamin E supplementation is dependent on pre-supplementation cytokine levels.

Vitamin E supplementation has been suggested to improve immune response in the aged in part by altering cytokine production. However, there is not a consensus regarding the effect of supplemental vitamin E on cytokine production in humans. There is evidence that baseline immune health can affect immune response to supplemental vitamin E in the elderly. Thus, the effect of vitamin E on cytokines may depend on their pre-supplementation cytokine response. Using data from a vitamin E intervention in elderly nursing home residents, we examined if the effect of vitamin E on ex vivo cytokine production of IL-1 beta, IL-6, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma depended on baseline cytokine production. We observed that the effect of vitamin E supplementation on cytokine production depended on pre-supplementation production of the respective cytokines. The interactions between vitamin E and baseline cytokine production were not explained by covariates known to impact cytokine production. Our results offer evidence that baseline cytokine production should be considered in studies that examine the effect of supplemental vitamin E on immune and inflammatory responses. Our results could have implications in designing clinical trials to determine the impact of vitamin E on conditions in which cytokines are implicated such as infections and atherosclerotic disease.