Journal
THORAX
Volume 67, Issue 11, Pages 1018-1020Publisher
BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202139
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Department of Health via the NIHR comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre
- St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
- King's College London
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The classic role of vitamin D in the regulation of calcium and phosphate metabolism, and its effects on bone health, are well established. More recently a critical role in immunity and respiratory health has been proposed. This arises from evidence for the capacity to generate the active metabolite, 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH) D3), locally in many tissues beyond the kidney; expression of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in immune and structural cells not involved in calcium-phosphate homeostasis; and control by 1,25(OH)D3 of the transcription of genes associated with numerous different biological processes through its nuclear VDR. Abnormalities in the vitamin D axis, including a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency worldwide, now appear important in a wide range of pulmonary diseases including viral and bacterial respiratory infection, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer. Actions of vitamin D on innate immune responses, for example, production of antimicrobial peptides and autophagy, and on adaptive immune responses, for example, promoting regulatory lymphocytes, are believed to underpin these associations.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available