Project description:It's since December 2019 that Corona virus disease (COVID-19) has emerged to be the global issue of concern. A "pandemic"; this is what WHO has declared about the COVID-19 outbreak on March 3rd, 2020. Vitamin D and its deficiency have recently been claimed to be one of the potential factors affecting COVID-19 risks and outcomes [1]. As Selberstein et al., has recently discussed the effect of vitamin D deficiency, and the role of vitamin D supplementation in COVID-19 patients [2], I'd believe that vitamin D binding protein (DBP) is maybe also involved. A closer look on DBP and its action on regulating the circulatory vitamin D levels, its polymorphisms and their impact on COVID-19 prevalence and mortality, will be briefly discussed.
Project description:We investigated the association between endogenous vitamin D and the severity of COVID-19 as well as the mechanisms of action of vitamin D supplementation. Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were associated with increased severity and unfavourable outcome after 28 days. Vitamin D levels were negatively associated with biomarkers of COVID-19 severity. Vitamin D supplementation after challenge of mice with COVID-19 plasma led to reduced levels of TNFα, IL-6, IFNγ and MPO in the lung, as well as down-regulation of pro-inflammatory pathways as derived from RNA-seq experiments. Thus, vitamin D demonstrates a protective effect against severity and unfavorable outcome in COVID-19, possibly through attenuation of tissue-specific hyperinflammation.