What is SOD?
SOD stands for superoxide dismutases. These are enzymes which divide superoxide molecules into ordinary oxygen molecules, or hydrogen peroxide.
Superoxide is produced as a by-product of oxygen metabolism in the body. Superoxide molecules are free radicals, also known as reactive oxygen species, and they are toxic.The damage they cause to cells is known as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress can increase your risk of cancer, among other things. Hydrogen peroxide is also damaging, but less so.
So SOD helps protect against cancer. However, once the body does develop cancer, reactive oxygen species attack the tumor. Once a tumor has developed, SOD may actually protect the tumor from the body’s natural defences against it.
Some more info
There are three types of SOD in humans.
- SOD1 is located in the cell cytoplasm. Cytoplasm is the jellyish stuff that fill cells. SOD1 contains copper and zinc, and amino acids.
- SOD2 in found in the cell mitochondria. The mitochondria are inside cells and they use oxygen and glucose to create energy. SOD2 has manganese in its reactive centre, besides amino acids.
- SOD3 is extracellular, in other words it exists outside the body cells to protect them. SOD3 contains copper and zinc, and amino acids.
Do I have any SOD polymorphisms?
If you have had your DNA analysed by 23andme you can download a results interpretation from Genetic Genie, which will report on your SOD2 A16V status. For the other SOD genes, you have to log in to the 23andme website and search for SOD1, SOD2 and SOD3.
The SOD2 gene polymorphisms which Genetic Genie reports on is the most well-researched. So far it is the only one known to cause a reduction in efficiency of the SOD enzyme, (although there has actually been one study which challenged this.)
What do the SOD polymorphisms cause?
A variety of serious diseases can be caused polymorphisms in the SOD enzymes. These diseases are NOT caused by a reduction in the amount of SOD produced; exactly how the genes that cause these diseases alter SOD is not yet known. When the SOD enzymes are artificially shut off for the purpose of scientific experiment, the result is almost always rapid death.
For our purposes, the interesting polymorphism is the SOD2 A16V polymorphism. Having this polymorphism means you are likely to have increased levels of oxidative stress.
Why might it be better for people with Lyme disease to have low SOD levels?
Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium which causes Lyme disease, dislikes oxygen. It protects itself from reactive oxygen species by producing its own type of superoxide dismutase, called SodA. 
In the past, some research has suggested that Borrelia burgdorferi uses iron to make its own SOD. However, this research produced some confusing conclusions. New research has found that B. burgdorferi cannot transport iron and contains very little of it. Instead, the SodA that Borrelia produces uses manganese. This information comes from research on Borrelia published by the US National Institutes of health.
The human body makes its own SOD to reduce oxygen-damage to our own tissues, but own SOD will also reduce damage to borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. In other words, having a high level of SOD weakens one of our natural defences against Lyme disease bacteria. Similarly, antioxidants (which boost SOD levels) are not good for killing Lyme disease bacteria.
Similarly, although we need SOD to stop reactive oxygen damaging our cells and causing cancer, we also use reactive oxygen to attack cancer cells themselves; once a tumor has actually developed, it is believed that having lower levels of SOD, and therefore higher levels of reactive oxygen, will damage the tumor and help to protect us. For this reason it is nowadays suggested that people with cancer do not take antioxidant supplements. Put simply, antioxidants are good for preventing cancer, but not for getting rid of it.
Treatment
SOD can be taken as a pharmaceutical product. It is commercially obtained from bovine liver, though it is also found in yeast, spinach, and chicken liver. Antioxidant supplements can also boost SOD levels.
Sources and further reading
SNPedia – list of research articles on SOD2 rs4880 polymorphisms
Antioxidants Can Make cancers Worse
Antioxidants and Cancer Risk: The good, the Bad and the Unknown
This article links to lots of primary research sources.
How Borrelia Burgdorferi makes its own SOD
You've Got to be Kidding! 
Just because one has a certain polymorphism, doesn’t mean it’s expressed.
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Friend, I understand your logic. Some points make sense. I might have agreed with you but I knew intuitively that Lyme creates a highly oxidative condition. I always said that because you can feel how it accelerates aging and impacts metabolism in its later stages.
But even more so, new research shows Lyme disease is a disease also of oxidative stress, making it a mitochondrial disease in later stages. SOD2 acts as an antioxidant modulator. Because Lyme disease produces so much oxidative stress, SOD2 enzyme activity is lowered because it is being used up. The free radicals produced in the mitochondria of the cells damage mitochondrial walls, creating new mitochondrial disease. In addition, those who take antimicrobials must also supplement with mitochondrial antioxidants because research shows the antibiotic treatment alone creates excessive damaging free radicals. Chronic and late-diagnosed Lyme plus antibiotics alone equals rheumatism and worse (an inflammatory cascade of epic proportion that damages censitive neurons first (in the heart, CNS and motor neurons)…addition of mitochondrial antioxidants and biological spin traps (coupled with antimicrobials) is the immunomodulating factor that positive impacts the condition.
For additional considerations, SOD2 is not attached to copper/zinc. It’s a manganese molecule. Important to note, borrelia (the organism responsible for Lyme disease) is a manganese dependent organism. Borrelia are likely in an interdependent relationship with SOD2 for this reason. There is no scientific evidence to date that would suggest that reducing SOD2 (or magnesium starving) can control Lyme disease or cancer.
Modeling of NRF2 activation (which increases endogenous antioxidant enzymes) as a way to grow tumors has only been conducted in mice models. Methods were questionable…using vitamins and calling them “antioxidants” when that is not their main role…or using cheap Alpha Lipoic Acid from China (notoriously loaded with toxic manufacturing byproducts and not in the active form) instead of studying pure R-Lipoic Acid which is endogenous to the body anyway.
Coming back to SOD supplementation, while it does have some positive antioxidant capacity it is not a good investment in comparison to lipid soluble antioxidants. As a supplement, it can not reach the phospholipid membranes easily because it is not lipid based. It also cannot cross the blood brain barrier to reach the nervous system where it is needed most. I prefer the liquid R-Lipoic acid which is stabilized, pure, bioavailable and fast acting because it recycles glutathione, vitamin E and vitamin C (in combination with other mitochondrial antioxidants like the R+Plus Curcumin and carnitine).
These are my thoughts. I like your site. Keep up the good work. But, I needed to make these important distinctions for everyone.
LikeLike
Friend, I understand your logic. Some points make sense. I might have agreed with you but I knew intuitively that Lyme creates a highly oxidative condition. I always said that because you can feel how it accelerates aging and impacts metabolism in its later stages.
But even more so, new research shows Lyme disease is a disease also of oxidative stress, making it a mitochondrial disease in later stages. SOD2 acts as an antioxidant modulator. Because Lyme disease produces so much oxidative stress, SOD2 enzyme activity is lowered because it is being used up. The free radicals produced in the mitochondria of the cells damage mitochondrial walls, creating new mitochondrial disease.
In addition, those who take antimicrobials must also supplement with mitochondrial antioxidants because research shows that the antibiotic treatment alone creates excessive damaging free radicals. Chronic and late-diagnosed Lyme plus antibiotics alone equals rheumatism and worse (an inflammatory cascade of epic proportion that damages sensitive neurons first (in the heart, CNS and motor neurons)…addition of mitochondrial antioxidants and biological spin traps (coupled with antimicrobials) is the immunomodulating factor that positively impacts the condition.
For additional considerations, SOD2 is not attached to copper/zinc. It’s a manganese molecule. Important to note, borrelia (the organism responsible for Lyme disease) is a manganese dependent organism. Borrelia are likely in an interdependent relationship with SOD2 for this reason. There is no scientific evidence to date that would suggest that reducing SOD2 (or magnesium or antioxidant starving) can control Lyme disease or cancer. Just the opposite.
Modeling of NRF2 activation (which increases endogenous antioxidant enzymes) as a way to grow tumors has only been conducted in mice models. Methods were questionable…using vitamins and calling them “antioxidants” when that is not their main role…or using cheap Alpha Lipoic Acid from China (notoriously loaded with toxic manufacturing byproducts and not in the active form the body uses) instead of studying pure R-Lipoic Acid which is endogenous to the body anyway and notoriously ou-performs Alpha lipoic acid.
Coming back to SOD supplementation, while it does have some positive antioxidant capacity it is not a good investment in comparison to lipid soluble antioxidants. As a supplement, it can not reach the phospholipid membranes easily because it is not lipid based. It also can not cross the blood brain barrier to reach the nervous system where it is needed most. I prefer the liquid R-Lipoic acid which is stabilized, pure, bioavailable and fast acting because it recycles glutathione, vitamin E and vitamin C (in combination with other mitochondrial antioxidants like the R+Plus Curcumin and carnitine).
These are my thoughts. I like your site. Keep up the good work. But, I needed to make these important distinctions for everyone.
LikeLike