Vitamin D and autoimmunity: new etiological and therapeutical considerations

Yoav Arnson ¹, Howard Amital ^1* and Yehuda Shoenfeld ²

¹ Department of Medicine 'D', Meir Medical Center, Kfar-Saba, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel
² Department of Medicine 'B' and Center for Autoimmune Diseases, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Aviv Univer, Israel

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hamital{at}netvision.net.il.

Accepted 3 June 2007

Abstract

Vitamin D is frequently prescribed by rheumatologists to prevent and treat osteoporosis. Several observations have demonstrated that vitamin D inhibits proinflammatory processes by suppressing the enhanced activity of immune cells that take part in the autoimmune reaction. Moreover, recent evidence strongly advocates that supplementation of vitamin D may be therapeutically beneficial particularly for Th1 mediated autoimmune disorders. Some reports imply that vitamin D may even be preventive in certain disorders such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes type 1. It seems that vitamin D has crossed the boundaries of calcium metabolism becoming familiar as a significant factor taking part in diverse physiological functions in general and specifically as a biological inhibitor of inflammatory hyperactivity.

Keywords: autoimmunity, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, vitamin D

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