vitamin-d-2 and Pneumonia--Viral

SARS-CoV-2 pneumonitis can quickly strike to incapacitate the lung, leading to severe disease and sometimes death. In this perspective, we suggest that vitamin D deficiency and the failure to activate the vitamin D receptor (VDR) can aggravate this respiratory syndrome by igniting a wounding response in stellate cells of the lung. The FDA-approved injectable vitamin D analog, paricalcitol, suppresses stellate cell-derived murine hepatic and pancreatic pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic changes. Therefore, we suggest a possible parallel program in the pulmonary stellate cells of COVID-19 patients and propose repurposing paricalcitol infusion therapy to restrain the COVID-19 cytokine storm. This proposed therapy could prove important to people of color who have higher COVID-19 mortality rates and lower vitamin D levels.

Topics: Animals; Betacoronavirus; Coronavirus Infections; COVID-19; Cytokines; Drug Repositioning; Ergocalciferols; Humans; Mice; Pandemics; Pneumonia, Viral; Receptors, Calcitriol; SARS-CoV-2; Vitamin D Deficiency; Wound Healing