A short on Immunity and supporting the immune system. Timely in the day and age of COVID19

1. Immune Support
How to support your immune system and prevent & treat harmful and
life-threatening illnesses in our current environment.
Emphasis on more virulent strains of influenza and coronavirus and
other pathogens
In response to the COVID19 Pandemic

3. How does the human immune system work?
• There are some important principles regarding the body’s immune
system and how to protect it and enhance its ability to work properly.
• Innate immunity refers to nonspecific defense mechanisms that come
into play immediately or within hours of an infection antigen's
appearance in the body. It is the inborn resistance we have to fight
infections since birth.
• These mechanisms include physical barriers such as skin, chemicals in
the blood, and immune system cells that attack foreign cells in
the body.

4. How does the human immune system work?
• Acquired immunity is the resistance we have to fight infections and
invading foreign substances that each individual acquires or adapts
during the course of their life.
• Examples of acquired immunity is a vaccine; we acquire this from a
childhood vaccine say against the polio virus which then protects us
from getting this disease and what can follow (sequelae) which can
paralyze certain muscle groups.
• Another example of acquired immunity is having come down with
childhood chickenpox; once infected even if mild we should have
lifelong immunity against further infections.

5. Subtypes of our immune system cells
• The adaptive immunity (also referred to as acquired) relies on the coordination of
specific adaptive immune cells.
• There are seven main parts of the immune system:
• white blood cells;
• antibodies;
• the complement system;
• the lymphatic system;
• the spleen;
• the thymus;
• the bone marrow.
• Within the adaptive immune system there are cells called lymphocytes that have
characteristics of specificity, immunological memory and self/non-self-recognition. They
respond to antigens on infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses.
• The subset of these lymphocytes are T-cells and B-cells. These two types of cells
comprise the majority of the adaptive immune system. When working properly they will
work together to attack and remove foreign invaders.

7. Adaptive Immune system
• When the systems are not working correctly due to a number of factors in
an unhealthy body, they shirk their responsibilities and can even attack the
host (this is referred to as autoimmunity).
• Autoimmunity leads to one or more of the near 100 autoimmune diseases.
The breakdown of the adaptive immune system can have several root
causes, anything from poor nutrition either macro or micronutrients, to
smoldering chronic infections from viruses or other elusive agents, to
environmental toxins.
• When the innate and adaptive immune systems are not fully functional an
individual becomes more susceptible to infections and even cancers. It is
worth mentioning here that our immune system is our first line defense
against abnormal human cells we refer to as cancer cells.

8. Key interventions we can make to support them.
• The basics to keeping our innate immune system strong would be
support of our physical barriers such as skin and mucous membranes
and our gut (our gut traverses through our ‘’insides’’ but is still
considered ‘’outside’’). Keeping these barriers healthy will keep out
infectious agents.
• Much like a fort’s external wall and moat, if working correctly can
protect against a frontal attack by an enemy. Keeping the barriers
healthy it is paramount for us to have a healthy diet rich in nutrients;
protect our skin and mucosal membranes from breakdown; maintain
good hygiene, exercise and rest.

9. The basics:
• To support this, we should consider the addition of vitamin D3 if our
serum levels fall below 50 ng/mL. Vitamin D plays an integral role in
our immune function.
• There are other nutrients such as Vitamin C and Zinc that are also
helpful and when we see deficiencies, we can witness issues with our
skin and other tissues.
• The same can be said for some of our B-complex vitamins. Our
modern-day farming practices tend to deplete our foods of some of
these nutrients, so oftentimes we depend on dietary
supplementation to restore health levels we are missing in our daily
meals.

10. Who is immunocompromised?
• Those suffering from frequent infections, who are
immunocompromised due to a viral burden (HIV, EBV, CMV, HHV6
and other)
• Those immunocompromised by some conventional medical
treatments (chemotherapy, biologics, corticosteroids and other drugs)
have to take additional measures.
• Those with chronic illness or cancer, genetic predispositions for
becoming ill or unable to maintain a healthy-working immune system.

11. Those immunocompromised
• A person is much more at risk for infections and poor outcomes should they
become infected if they are immunocompromised. This can take shape if they
have chronic illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, malnutrition, intestinal
permeability (leaky gut), one or more autoimmune disorders, cancer, and
exposure to radiation & chemotherapeutic agents.
• This also applies to those taking a newer class of therapy called biologics.
Biologics are lab manipulated monoclonal antibodies (mAB) and these agents are
engineered to attack certain parts of our immune system to prevent or treat
autoimmune diseases such as MS or psoriasis for example. They may be
successful and reducing some symptoms of the autoimmune disease they target,
but do have the undesirable effects of opening up our bodies to infections and
cancers.
• Biologics (mAB) agents interfere with some critical immune function cells and
thus lower our protective system. FDA requires these warnings be made know by
the manufacturer to doctors and their patients. That is why on the package insert
of almost all mAB agents you will see warnings about potential infections and
cancer risk.

12. Herbals known to protect
• There are several herbals that can aid our bodies in fighting infections
and cancers. Echinacea and Goldenseal are ones that commonly
come to mine.
• However, others such as curcumin and andrographis are others less
commonly known.
• There are also anti-infectives such as oregano oil, clove oil and
berberine that may be helpful in treatment (much like the synthetic
antibiotics and antiviral medications).
• However, these natural and/or synthetic antimicrobials are only the second
line in our defense. They can make the difference between life and death if
our first line defense is damaged or compromised.

14. Avoid the bad. Turning off the firehose.
• Foremost is to avoid anything that will reduce effectiveness and
damper response of our primary defenses. Avoidance of high dose
steroids; mABs, and other agents/drugs that can diminish the
effectiveness of our immune system.
• Support comes next with proper nutrition, exercise and rest (sleep).
Third would be behavioral modifications in our life to avoid contact
with invaders: good personal hygiene, handwashing, avoiding close
personal contact with others that may be ill (especially with
communicable diseases – today we refer to this as social distancing),
proper, careful and smart immunization programs and schedules …
• Lastly addressing an infection at the onset, not waiting too long
before an infection takes hold.

15. Support
• Support for the immune system starts with adequate and bioavailable
vitamin D3; bioactive active forms of B-vitamins (B-complex); and minerals.
• Omega-3 fatty acids can also play an important role in the health of our
immune system and act as anti-inflammatories. Cytokine storms and run-
away inflammation can damage our immune system and lead to protracted
and severe illness as seen in SARS for example. Adaptogenic herbs of
which there are many may also be helpful. In particular agents that
provide ginsenosides, curcuminoides and andrographolides are helpful.
For example: P. ginseng; curcumin and Andrographis.
• CDP-choline – an agent that suppresses PLA2 which research has shown to
increase infectivity of some viruses and other agents and also increase
severity of disease due to rise in inflammation.

17. LDN a big player on the field.
• Lastly I will discuss a particular drug that has features of enhancement of
immune system across many planes and covers a wide spectrum to include
healing of the gut and mucosal lining; putting into balance and thus
optimal function of T-cells and B-cells; reducing current and future
autoimmune disorders and allowing our immune system to fight cancer
cells without use of chemotherapeutic agents per se.
• This drug is naltrexone and when prescribed in much lower doses than the
FDA approved dose of treating addictive disorders, it is a big instrument in
our toolbox as far as prescriptives go. We refer to this as LDN (low-dose-
naltrexone) and there is a plethora of evidence over the past 20-years
having been published for the safe and effective use of this agent.

18. Our recommendations:
• Well researches combinations of easily available agents make up our basic
recommendations for immune support at the Priority Health Academy and
Carolina Holistic Medicine centers. Briefly I will outline them here:
• Medicinal Mushrooms (select agents such as the d-fraction of maitake and
other mushrooms)
• Specially prepared extracts of Curcumin longa (curcuminoids)
• High potency preparations of vitamin D and vitamin C (ascorbate)
• The amino acid N-Acetyl-L-Cysteine
• Specially prepared Andrographis paniculate
• Citicoline or CDP-choline (to reduce PLA2)
• Low Dose Naltrexone (Rx)

19. Medicinal
Mushrooms

20. Andrographis

21. References:
 LDN Research Trust (Feb 2020 LDN Conference, Bahamas)
 LDNScience.org (EBM content)
 Andrographis “King of Bitters” presentation by EuroMedica March 2020
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10589439
 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1978301916300766
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25888070
 https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-015-0525-7
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28870345
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29552170
 https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/fmj/3/3/3_2016023/_html
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6839656/
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337024637_Andrographolide_is_an_Alternative_Treatment_to_Overc
ome_Resistance_in_ER-Positive_Breast_Cancer_via_Cholesterol_Biosynthesis_Pathway
 www.impactjournals.com/oncotarget/ Oncotarget, 2017, Vol. 8, (No. 62), pp: 105860-105872
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3641039/
 https://plantmedicines.org/curcumin-turmeric-zika-hiv-herpes-viruses/
 PLA2 Lecture by Dr. Shaw March 2020

22. For More
Information
• Call or email our offices:
• (800) 965-8482
• info@carolinaholisticmedicine.com
• www.CarolinaHolisticMedicine.com
• Offering Telemedicine/Telehealth visits