Vitamin D has several health benefits, including enhancing the immune response to tuberculosis infection. Robert Modlin at the University of California, Los Angeles, and his colleagues show how the immune system depends on vitamin D to mount a response against the causative bacterium, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
The team found that cultured human T cells that produce an immune-signalling protein called IFN-γ activate another class of immune cells, the macrophages, to produce antimicrobial peptides. The production of these peptides requires vitamin D.
Macrophages cultured with serum from the blood of vitamin D-deficient people did not produce antimicrobial peptides, whereas those from individuals with normal vitamin D levels did. The authors say that recommended vitamin D intake in nutritional guidelines should take into account benefits beyond bone health.
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Vitamin D to fight tuberculosis. Nature 478, 288 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/478288d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/478288d
