International Journal of General Medicine (Jul 2021)

The Relationship Between Vitamin D and Infections Including COVID-19: Any Hopes?

  • Taha R,
  • Abureesh S,
  • Alghamdi S,
  • Hassan RY,
  • Cheikh MM,
  • Bagabir RA,
  • Almoallim H,
  • Abdulkhaliq A

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 14
pp. 3849 – 3870

Abstract

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Rbab Taha,1 Shahd Abureesh,2 Shuruq Alghamdi,2 Rola Y Hassan,3 Mohamed M Cheikh,4,5 Rania A Bagabir,6 Hani Almoallim,2,7 Altaf Abdulkhaliq8 1Department of Transplant Infectious Disease, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Internal Medicine, King Fahad Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Doctor Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Medicine, Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Immunology and Hematology, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 7Alzaidi Chair of Research in Rheumatic Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 8Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Rola Y Hassan Email [email protected]: Vitamin D is proposed to have a potential role in the pathogenicity, clinical presentation, prognosis, complications, and treatment of several diseases. In addition to its well-known role in calcium metabolism, vitamin D regulates both innate and adaptive immunity, and subsequently modulates the antiviral and antibacterial inflammatory immune responses. In view of the emerging coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, searching for potential therapeutic and protective strategies is of urgent interest, and vitamin D is one of the promising agents in this field. In this review, we present data from literature that supports the promising role of vitamin D in treatment and/or prevention of several infections including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This review summarizes vitamin D metabolism and its role in inflammation, thrombosis and immune regulation. It also reviews, in short, the role of vitamin D and the impact of its deficiency in several infections namely tuberculosis, influenza, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and SARS-CoV-2. Considering the roles of vitamin D on immune modulation, controlling of thrombosis, and attacking several microorganisms, the current review will elaborate on the association between these salient roles of vitamin D and the pathogenicity of various infectious agents including COVID-19. Consequently, the comprehensive finding of the current review shows a possible significant impact of vitamin D supplement as a hope in preventing, treating, and/or improving the progression of certain infections, specifically during the worldwide attempts to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and minimize the severity of health complications encountered accordingly. In addition, avoiding a status of vitamin D deficiency to obtain its positive effects on the immune system and its protective mechanism during infections will be a general benefit overall.Keywords: 1,25(OH)2D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, 25(OH)D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D, HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, SARS, COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome, TB, tuberculosis, MTB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, influenza

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