Vitamin D and Aging: Central Role of Immunocompetence – Carlberg

Created March 2024

The Study

Nutrients 2024, 16(3), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16030398

Carsten Carlberg 1,2,*ORCID and Eunike Velleuer 3,4ORCID

1 Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, PL-10-748 Olsztyn, Poland

2 School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland

3 Department for Cytopathology, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, D-40225 Düsseldorf, Germany

4 Department for Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, Helios Children’s Hospital, D-47805 Krefeld, Germany

(This article belongs to the Section Nutrigenetics and Nutrigenomics)

The pro-hormone vitamin D3 is an important modulator of both innate and adaptive immunity since its biologically active metabolite 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) regulates via the transcription factor VDR (vitamin D receptor) the epigenome and transcriptome of human immune cells and controls in this way the expression of hundreds of vitamin D target genes. Since the myeloid linage of hematopoiesis is epigenetically programmed by VDR in concert with the pioneer factors PU.1 (purine-rich box 1) and CEBPα (CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α), monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells are the most vitamin D-sensitive immune cell types.

The central role of the immune system in various aging-related diseases suggests that immunocompetence describes not only the ability of an individual to resist pathogens and parasites but also to contest non-communicative diseases and the process of aging itself.

In this review, we argue that the individual-specific responsiveness to vitamin D relates to a person’s immunocompetence via the epigenetic programming function of VDR and its ligand 1,25(OH)2D3 during hematopoiesis as well as in the periphery.

This may provide a mechanism explaining how vitamin D protects against major common diseases and, in parallel, promotes healthy aging.

Conclusion suggests daily Vitamin D3 = 40 IU/kg (3,200 IU for 80 kg adult)

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