The Link
between Vitamin D and SARS-COV-2
Bahaa
El-Din LM (a), Amin GE (a,b), Samir R (c), Nazmy M (c) and Allam MF (a,d*)
a.
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University,
Cairo, Egypt
b.
Department of Community, Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of
Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
c.
Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University,
Cairo, Egypt
d.
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Cordoba, Cordoba 14004, Spain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36266/JPDRM/107
Abstract
Vitamin
D is a fat-soluble vitamin that crosses through membranes and binds to a
specific receptor; the Vitamin D receptor (VDR). It is becoming clearer that
microbes decelerate immune reactivity by dysregulating the VDR ultimately to
increase their chance of survival, and that is why Immune[1]modulatory
therapies that enhance VDR expression and activity are considered in the clinic
today to a greater extent. Recent studies found that vitamin D supplementation
reduced the risk of acute respiratory infection. It has been shown that vitamin
D triggers innate cellular immunity, through the production of antimicrobial
peptides, such as cathelicidins, IL-37, and defensins. It also hinders the
cytokine storm, decreasing the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as
IFNγ and TNFα. The SARS-COV-2 outbreak rapidly spread across the world and it
has spurred a global effort to tackle the disease and to establish risk factors
and prognostic markers like for example serum vitamin D. Over the past months,
the evidence continued to grow and there’s more publications in peer-reviewed
medical journals about the possible connection between vitamin D and
SARS-COV-2. Literature about the correlation of vitamin D status in the context
of clinical outcomes of SARS-COV-2 infection is limited. Further studies are
needed to explore possible associations between Vitamin D status and disease
severity and survival in SARS-COV-2 patients.
Keywords: Vitamin
D; COVID-19; SARS-COV-2; Vitamin D receptor; IFNγ; TNFα.
Journal of Pulmonary
Disease and Respiratory Medicine 2021;1(2):1-2.
