Vitamin D₃ Status and the Association with Human Cathelicidin Expression in Patients with Different Clinical Forms of Active Tuberculosis.
Ashenafi. Senait S; Mazurek. Jolanta J; Rehn. Anders A; Lemma. Beede B; Aderaye. Getachew G; Bekele. Amsalu A; Assefa. Getachew G; Chanyalew. Menberework M; Aseffa. Abraham A; Andersson. Jan J; Bergman. Peter P; Brighenti. Susanna S
Key Findings
- Both TB patients and Ethiopian controls had low median 25‑hydroxyvitamin D levels (around 35‑38 nmol/L).
- LL‑37 mRNA was measured in blood and at infection sites, but its expression did not strongly correlate with vitamin D levels.
- The study suggests that low vitamin D is common in this population, but correcting it may not automatically raise LL‑37 levels or improve TB outcomes.
Practical Outcomes
- For biohackers, this means that simply boosting vitamin D may not be enough to enhance the antimicrobial peptide LL‑37 in the context of active TB. While maintaining adequate vitamin D is still advisable for overall health, expecting a direct boost in infection‑fighting peptides from supplementation alone isn’t strongly supported by this data.
Summary
Researchers measured vitamin D levels and the immune peptide LL‑37 in Ethiopian people with active tuberculosis and in healthy controls. They found that vitamin D levels were low overall and similar between sick and healthy groups, and the amount of LL‑37 didn’t show a clear link to vitamin D status.
Abstract
Low vitamin D (vitD₃) is one of the most common nutritional deficiencies in the world known to be associated with numerous medical conditions including infections such as tuberculosis (TB). In this study, vitD₃ status and its association with the antimicrobial peptide, human cathelicidin (LL-37), was investigated in Ethiopian patients with different clinical forms of TB. Patients with active TB (<i>n</i> = 77) and non-TB controls (<i>n</i> = 78) were enrolled in Ethiopia, while another group of non-TB controls (<i>n</i> = 62) was from Sweden. Active TB included pulmonary TB (<i>n =</i> 32), pleural TB (<i>n</i> = 20), and lymph node TB (<i>n</i> = 25). Concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ (25(OH)D₃) were assessed in plasma, while LL-37 mRNA was measured in peripheral blood and in samples obtained from the site of infection. Median 25(OH)D₃ plasma levels in active TB patients were similar to Ethiopian non-TB controls (38.5 versus 35.0 nmol/L) and vitD₃ deficiency (.
Study Information
pubmed
2018
2018-06-04T00:00:00.000Z
10.3390/nu10060721
20
53