Vitamin D every day to keep the infection away?

Within the last decade, vitamin D has emerged as a central regulator of host defense against infections. In this regard, vitamin D triggers effective antimicrobial pathways against bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens in cells of the human innate immune system. However, vitamin D also mediates pote...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nutrients 2015-05, Vol.7 (6), p.4170-4188
Main Authors: Kroner, Juliana de Castro, Sommer, Andrea, Fabri, Mario
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive Immunity
Animals
Communicable Diseases - blood
Communicable Diseases - complications
Communicable Diseases - immunology
Disease Models, Animal
epidemiological studies
fungi
Humans
Immunity, Innate
infectious diseases
inflammation
innate immunity
medicine
pathogens
Review
therapeutics
vitamin D
Vitamin D - administration & dosage
Vitamin D - immunology
vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D Deficiency - blood
Vitamin D Deficiency - complications
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Summary:Within the last decade, vitamin D has emerged as a central regulator of host defense against infections. In this regard, vitamin D triggers effective antimicrobial pathways against bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens in cells of the human innate immune system. However, vitamin D also mediates potent tolerogenic effects: it is generally believed that vitamin D attenuates inflammation and acquired immunity, and thus potentially limits collateral tissue damage. Nevertheless, several studies indicate that vitamin D promotes aspects of acquired host defense. Clinically, vitamin D deficiency has been associated with an increased risk for various infectious diseases in epidemiological studies; yet, robust data from controlled trials investigating the use of vitamin D as a preventive or therapeutic agent are missing. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge regarding the effect of vitamin D on innate and acquired host defense, and speculate on the difficulties to translate the available molecular medicine data into practical therapeutic or preventive recommendations.
ISSN:2072-6643
2072-6643
DOI:10.3390/nu7064170