calcitriol and Pneumonia--Viral

The SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an explosion of interest both in the mechanisms of infection leading to dissemination and expression of this disease, and in potential risk factors that may have a mechanistic basis for disease propagation or control. Vitamin D has emerged as a factor that may be involved in these two areas. The focus of this article is to apply our current understanding of vitamin D as a facilitator of immunocompetence both with regard to innate and adaptive immunity and to consider how this may relate to COVID-19 disease. There are also intriguing potential links to vitamin D as a factor in the cytokine storm that portends some of the most serious consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Moreover, cardiac and coagulopathic features of COVID-19 disease deserve attention as they may also be related to vitamin D. Finally, we review the current clinical data associating vitamin D with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a putative clinical link that at this time must still be considered hypothetical.

Topics: Adaptive Immunity; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; Autophagy; Betacoronavirus; Cathelicidins; Coronavirus Infections; COVID-19; Cytokine Release Syndrome; Defensins; Humans; Immunity, Innate; Immunocompetence; Lung; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; SARS-CoV-2; T-Lymphocytes; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; Th1 Cells; Th17 Cells; Th2 Cells; Vitamin D