Martin Hewison mhewison at mednet.ucla.edu
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2265.2011.04261.x
Clinical Endocrinology
Accepted Article (Accepted, unedited articles published online for future issues)
Keywords: vitamin D;CYP27B1;vitamin D receptor;toll-like receptor;monocyte;neutrophil;T-cell;cathelicidin;tuberculosis
In the last five years there has been a remarkable change in our understanding of the health benefits of vitamin D. The classical actions of vitamin D as a determinant of mineral metabolism and rachitic bone disease have been expanded to include a broader role in skeletal homeostasis and prevalent bone disorders such as osteoporosis. However, it is the non-skeletal functions of vitamin D that have attracted most attention. Although, pluripotent responses to vitamin D have been recognized for many years, our new perspective on non-classical vitamin D function stems from two more recent concepts. The first is that impaired, vitamin D status is common to many populations across the globe. This has prompted studies to explore the health impact of sub-optimal circulating levels of vitamin D, with association studies linking vitamin D ‘insufficiency’ to several chronic health problems including autoimmune and cardiovascular disease, hypertension and common cancers. In support of a broader role for vitamin D in human health, studies in vitro and using animal models have highlighted immunomodulatory and anti-cancer effects of vitamin D that appear to depend on localized activation of vitamin D.
The conclusion from these reports is that many non-classical actions of vitamin D are independent of conventional vitamin D endocrinology and are therefore more sensitive to variations in vitamin D status.
The current review summarizes these developments, with specific reference to the newly-identified effects of vitamin D on the immune system, but also highlights the challenges in translating these observations to clinical practice.
PDF is attached at bottom of page
Figure 1 from PDF
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See also Vitamin D Life
- All items in Immunity and Vitamin D 63 items as of Feb 2012
- Overview Influenza and vitamin D
- Overview Tuberculosis and Vitamin D
- Overview Cancer and vitamin D
- Vitamin D helps T-cell and immune system – overview Aug 2011 same author
- Vitamin D is a T-cell modulator in multiple sclerosis – April 2011.
- Immune system and vitamin D patent 2008
- Evidence that vitamin D reduces risk of viral infection – Dec 2010 Grant, etc.
- Additional 4 ng of vitamin D reduced chance of infection by 7 percent – June 2011
- Journal on vitamins and hormones has several papers on vitamin D – 2011
- Google site search for CYP27B1 350 hits Oct 2011