Autoimmunity and vitamin D – review Jan 2013

The Implication of Vitamin D and Autoimmunity: a Comprehensive Review.

Clin Rev Allergy Immunol. 2013 Jan 29.
Yang CY, Leung PS, Adamopoulos IE, Gershwin ME.
Division of Rheumatology, Allergy and Clinical Immunology, University of California at Davis School of Medicine, 451 Health Sciences Drive, Suite 6510, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.

Historically, vitamin D has been associated with the regulation of bone metabolism. However, increasing evidence demonstrates a strong association between vitamin D signaling and many biological processes that regulate immune responses. The discovery of the vitamin D receptor in multiple immune cell lineages, such as monocytes, dendritic cells, and activated T cells credits vitamin D with a novel role in modulating immunological functions and its subsequent role in the development or prevention of autoimmune diseases. In this review we, discuss five major areas in vitamin D biology of high immunological significance:

  • (1) the metabolism of vitamin D;
  • (2) the significance of vitamin D receptor polymorphisms in autoimmune diseases, such as **multiple sclerosis,
    • type 1 diabetes mellitus, and
    • systemic lupus erythematosus;
  • (3) vitamin D receptor transcriptional regulation of immune cell lineages, including Th1, Th17, Th2, regulatory T, and natural killer T cells;
  • (4) the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency in patients with
    • multiple sclerosis,
    • type 1 diabetes mellitus, and
    • systemic lupus erythematosus; and finally,
  • (5) the therapeutic effects of vitamin D supplementation on disease severity and progression.


PMID: 23359064

2 Charts



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Take-Home Messages

  1. Vitamin D can be spontaneously synthesized from cutaneous cholesterol upon UVB exposure and has pleiotropic effects on the immune system.
  2. Vitamin D, after metabolized into a biologically active form, 1,25(OH)2D, and bound to VDR/RXR, can initiate gene transcription and exert its immunomodulatory effects.
  3. Both environmental trigger (insufficient sunshine expo-sure) and genetic factor (VDR polymorphism) could contribute a poor vitamin D status.
  4. Vitamin D deficiency (low serum levels of 25(OH)D) is prevalent in multiple autoimmune diseases, e.g. MS,TIDM, and SLE.
  5. Because the vitamin D status is highly associated with the risk of autoimmunity, vitamin D has been implicated in prevention and protection from autoimmune diseases.

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See also VitaminDWiki

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