Vitamin D3 treatment of Crohn's disease patients increases stimulated T cell IL-6 production and proliferation.
BACKGROUND
Vitamin D3 has shown immune-modulating effects in CD4+ T cells from Crohn's disease patients in vitro.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of in vivo vitamin D3 treatment on T cells in Crohn's disease patients.


METHODS
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated at week 0 and at week 26 from 10 vitamin D3- and 10 placebo-treated Crohn's disease patients participating in a randomized, placebo-controlled, clinical trial study. Monocyte-depleted PBMC were stimulated with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28, and cultured for 7, days, to investigate CD4+ T-cell proliferation and T-cell cytokine production.


RESULTS
In vitamin D3-treated patients, the median 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels increased 70 nmol/L compared with -5 nmol/L in the placebo group. Vitamin D3 treatment increased interleukin-6 production (delta = 188 pg/mL, range: -444 to 4071) compared with a decrease in the placebo group (delta = -896 pg/mL, range: -3841 to 1323) (P < 0.02, Wilcoxon rank sum test). Interestingly, vitamin D3 increased the amount of proliferating stimulated CD4+ T cells from median 41% (range: 10-75%) to 56% (range: 26-77%) (P = 0.02, Wilcoxon rank sum test).


CONCLUSIONS
Vitamin D3 treatment of Crohn's disease patients increased the IL-6 levels. Interestingly, vitamin D3 treatment enhanced the CD4+ T cell proliferation.
Department of Medicine V, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark. miabendix@hotmail.com
M
M
Bendix-Struve
L E
LE
Bartels
J
J
Agnholt
A
A
Dige
S P
SP
Jørgensen
J F
JF
Dahlerup
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002762:Cholecalciferol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003424:Crohn Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D055815:Young Adult
D015850:Interleukin-6; D002762:Cholecalciferol