November 13, 2003 issue of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine: "Opioid-Induced Immune Modulation: .... Preclinical evidence indicates overwhelmingly that opioids alter the development, differentiation, and function of immune cells, and that both innate and adaptive systems are affected.1,2 Bone marrow progenitor cells, macrophages, natural killer cells, immature thymocytes and T cells, and B cells are all involved. The relatively recent identification of opioid-related receptors on immune cells makes it even more likely that opioids have direct effects on the immune system.3"

The brief blockade of opioid receptors between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. that is caused by taking LDN at bedtime each night is believed to produce a prolonged up-regulation of vital elements of the immune system by causing an increase in endorphin and enkephalin production. Normal volunteers who have taken LDN in this fashion have been found to have much higher levels of beta-endorphins circulating in their blood in the following days.

By boosting the immune system, the body is able to modulate many autoimmune disorders.

reference the following research studies:
A multi-institutional clinical trial of LDN for PPMS in Italy, which includes endorphin measurements, completed in fall 2007, published in September 2008.
A Phase II placebo-controlled clinical trial of LDN for Crohn’s disease at Penn State.
A Phase II placebo-controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of LDN for children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease at Penn State.
A clinical trial of LDN in HIV-infected citizens of Mali—the first scientific study of LDN for HIV/AIDS in Africa—implemented in October 2007.
A study of LDN in the treatment of MS at the University of California, San Francisco, implemented in early 2007.
A clinical trial of LDN in the treatment of fibromyalgia at Stanford Medical Center implemented in October 2007.
A study by the MindBrain Consortium in Akron, Ohio of, especially, the affective changes in MS treated with LDN, begun late 2007.
An animal research study at Penn State of naltrexone in a model of a disease that mimics MS, under a small grant from the National MS Society.
Animal research on neurodegeneration at NIEHS, suggesting a protective role for naltrexone.

Gerry Lane