The Link between Vitamin D and SARS-COV-2

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.

 

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