title: Vitamin D and lung disease.
abstract: The classic role of vitamin D in the regulation of calcium and phosphate metabolism, and its effects on bone health, are well established. More recently a critical role in immunity and respiratory health has been proposed. This arises from evidence for the capacity to generate the active metabolite, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)D3), locally in many tissues beyond the kidney; expression of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) in immune and structural cells not involved in calcium-phosphate homeostasis; and control by 1,25(OH)D3 of the transcription of genes associated with numerous different biological processes through its nuclear VDR. Abnormalities in the vitamin D axis, including a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency worldwide, now appear important in a wide range of pulmonary diseases including viral and bacterial respiratory infection, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer. Actions of vitamin D on innate immune responses, for example, production of antimicrobial peptides and autophagy, and on adaptive immune responses, for example, promoting regulatory lymphocytes, are believed to underpin these associations.
authors.affiliation: MRC and Asthma-UK Centre for Allergic Mechanisms in Asthma, King’s College London, London, UK. catherine.hawrylowicz@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Paul E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Pfeffer
authors.forename: Catherine M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hawrylowicz
mesh_terms: D002117:Calcitriol / Q000276:immunology; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000187:drug effects; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015995:Prevalence; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000276:immunology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014807:Vitamin D / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014808:Vitamin D Deficiency / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015220:Calcium Channels; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol; C118756:dihydroxy-vitamin D3; D014807:Vitamin D; D002117:Calcitriol