The Immunologic Profile of Vitamin D and Its Role in Different Immune-Mediated Diseases: An Expert Opinion

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 14; no. 3; p. 473
• Main Authors: Giannini, Sandro, Giusti, Andrea, Minisola, Salvatore, Napoli, Nicola, Passeri, Giovanni, Rossini, Maurizio, Sinigaglia, Luigi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 21-01-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Adaptive immunity; Adaptive systems; Antigens; Arthritis; Biological effects; Calciferol; cholecalciferol; Clinical trials; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cytokines; Dendritic cells; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Epidemiology; Expert Testimony; Gene expression; Humans; Immune system; immune-mediated disease; Immunology; Immunomodulation; In vivo methods and tests; Infectious diseases; Lymphocytes; Musculoskeletal system; Neutrophils; Review; Rheumatoid arthritis; SARS-CoV-2; Tuberculosis; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Vitamin D; Vitamin deficiency; Vitamins; COVID-19; cholecalciferol; immune-mediated disease; vitamin D
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu14030473

Historically, vitamin D is recognized as an essential component for the maintenance of the musculoskeletal system. The immunomodulatory role of vitamin D in health and disease has gained much interest in recent years due to the many pathologies that share underlying immunological features where vitamin D has been shown to exert a potential role. Evidence from pre-clinical studies show that vitamin D elicits biological effects on both the innate and adaptive immune systems. Furthermore, in vivo studies have shown that administration of vitamin D can lead to changes in or the development of a range of immune-related diseases. This encourages the hypothesis that data derived from clinical and epidemiological studies connect vitamin D with the incidence and severity of many immune-mediated disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and infectious diseases. Since some other immune-mediated diseases share similar features to that of viral infection such as COVID-19, in this review, we examined these other areas and the role of vitamin D in these diseases.