Vitamin D plus Inositol might help pregnancies during COVID-19

Inositol and vitamin D may naturally protect human reproduction and women undergoing assisted reproduction from Covid-19 risk

Journal of Reproductive Immunology. Volume 144, April 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jri.2021.103271

lMaria SalomeBezerra EspinolaaMatteoBertellicdeMarianoBizzarriaVittorioUnferaAntonio SimoneLaganàfBernieroViscontibCesareAragonaa

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Highlights

• MI down-regulates the expression of IL-6 through PI3K and promotes the formation of surfactant phospholipids in immature lung tissues.

• Inositol supplementation reduces the short-term adverse neonatal outcomes.

• Active Vitamin D is considered a hormone with an important role in human reproduction.

• Vitamin D modulates innate and acquired immune response and reduces IL-8 expression in respiratory epithelial cells.

• An adequate Vitamin D status may be effective against respiratory tract infections.

In late 2019, the new Coronavirus has been identified in the city of Wuhan then COVID-19 spreads like wildfire in the rest of the world. Pregnant women represent a risk category for increased abortion rates and vertical transmission with adverse events on the newborns has been recently confirmed. The scientific world is struggling for finding an effective cure for counteracting symptomatology. Today, there are many therapeutic proposes but none of them can effectively counteract the infection. Moreover, many of these compounds show important side effects not justifying their use. Scientific literature reports an immune system over-reaction through interleukins-6 activation. In this regard, the possibility to control the immune system represents a possible strategy for counteracting the onset of COVID-19 symptomatology. Vitamin D deficiency shows increased susceptibility to acute viral respiratory infections. Moreover, Vitamin D seems involved in host protection from different virus species by modulating activation and release of cytokines. Myo-inositol down-regulates the expression of IL-6 by phosphatidyl-inositol-3-kinase (PI3K) pathway. Furthermore, myo-inositol is the precursor of phospholipids in the surfactant and it is applied for inducing surfactant synthesis in infants for treating respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). This review aims to summarize the evidence about COVID-19 infection in pregnant women and to encourage the scientific community to investigate the use of Vitamin D and Myo-inositol which could represent a possible preventive treatment for pregnant women or women undergoing assisted reproductive technologies (ART).