TY - JOUR
T1 - Vitamin D deficiency in a multiethnic healthy control cohort and altered immune response in vitamin D deficient European-American healthy controls
AU - Ritterhouse, Lauren L.
AU - Lu, Rufei
AU - Shah, Hemangi B.
AU - Robertson, Julie M.
AU - Fife, Dustin A.
AU - Maecker, Holden T.
AU - Du, Hongwu
AU - Fathman, Charles G.
AU - Chakravarty, Eliza F.
AU - Scofield, R. Hal
AU - Kamen, Diane L.
AU - Guthridge, Joel M.
AU - James, Judith A.
PY - 2014/4/11
Y1 - 2014/4/11
N2 - Objective: In recent years, vitamin D has been shown to possess a wide range of immunomodulatory effects. Although there is extensive amount of research on vitamin D, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency or the mechanism by which vitamin D regulates the human immune system. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of vitamin D deficiency and the relationship between vitamin D and the immune system in healthy individuals. Methods: Healthy individuals (n = 774) comprised of European-Americans (EA, n = 470), African Americans (AA, n = 125), and Native Americans (NA, n = 179) were screened for 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels by ELISA. To identify the most noticeable effects of vitamin D on the immune system, 20 EA individuals with severely deficient (<11.3 ng/mL) and sufficient (>24.8 ng/mL) vitamin D levels were matched and selected for further analysis. Serum cytokine level measurement, immune cell phenotyping, and phosphoflow cytometry were performed. Results: Vitamin D sufficiency was observed in 37.5% of the study cohort. By multivariate analysis, AA, NA, and females with a high body mass index (BMI, >30) demonstrate higher rates of vitamin D deficiency (p,0.05). Individuals with vitamin D deficiency had significantly higher levels of serum GM-CSF (p = 0.04), decreased circulating activated CD4+ (p = 0.04) and CD8+ T (p = 0.04) cell frequencies than individuals with sufficient vitamin D levels. Conclusion: A large portion of healthy individuals have vitamin D deficiency. These individuals have altered T and B cell responses, indicating that the absence of sufficient vitamin D levels could result in undesirable cellular and molecular alterations ultimately contributing to immune dysregulation.
AB - Objective: In recent years, vitamin D has been shown to possess a wide range of immunomodulatory effects. Although there is extensive amount of research on vitamin D, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency or the mechanism by which vitamin D regulates the human immune system. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of vitamin D deficiency and the relationship between vitamin D and the immune system in healthy individuals. Methods: Healthy individuals (n = 774) comprised of European-Americans (EA, n = 470), African Americans (AA, n = 125), and Native Americans (NA, n = 179) were screened for 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels by ELISA. To identify the most noticeable effects of vitamin D on the immune system, 20 EA individuals with severely deficient (<11.3 ng/mL) and sufficient (>24.8 ng/mL) vitamin D levels were matched and selected for further analysis. Serum cytokine level measurement, immune cell phenotyping, and phosphoflow cytometry were performed. Results: Vitamin D sufficiency was observed in 37.5% of the study cohort. By multivariate analysis, AA, NA, and females with a high body mass index (BMI, >30) demonstrate higher rates of vitamin D deficiency (p,0.05). Individuals with vitamin D deficiency had significantly higher levels of serum GM-CSF (p = 0.04), decreased circulating activated CD4+ (p = 0.04) and CD8+ T (p = 0.04) cell frequencies than individuals with sufficient vitamin D levels. Conclusion: A large portion of healthy individuals have vitamin D deficiency. These individuals have altered T and B cell responses, indicating that the absence of sufficient vitamin D levels could result in undesirable cellular and molecular alterations ultimately contributing to immune dysregulation.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84899630455&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84899630455&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0094500
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0094500
M3 - Article
C2 - 24727903
AN - SCOPUS:84899630455
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 9
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 4
M1 - e94500
ER -