VITAMIN D AN ANTIMICROBIAL WEAPON
AGAINST ACUTE RESPIRATORY TRACT
INFECTIONS. A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW (2006-
MARCH 2011)
RUXANDRA MOROTI1,2*, ROXANA PETRE1, IULIA NICULESCU1,
IRINA PIGULEA1, VIOLETA MOLAGIC1, ADRIANA HRISTEA1,2,
ALINA POROJNICU3
1Matei Bals National Institute for Infectious Diseases, 1, Grozovici str,
021105, Bucharest
2Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8, B-dul Eroilor
Sanitari, 050511, Bucharest
3Department of Radiation Biology, Institute for Cancer Research
Rikshospitalet – Radiumhospitalet Medical Center, Oslo, Norway
*corresponding author: ruxandra_moroti@yahoo.com
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Abstract:

Vitamin D (vitD) acts like a hormone, by binding a nuclear receptor, vitamin D receptor (VDR), stimulating the release of cathelicidin, an endogenous antibiotic and an immune-modulator. The presence of VDR in monocytic-macrophagic system and in the respiratory epithelium suggests that vitD can play a role in defending against respiratory infections. A lot of studies were published in the last years for finding the correct link between vitD and respiratory infections, in order to use it for prophylaxis and treatment.
We searched on PubMed publications for piecing together the last 5 years researches on this field. Ten out of 90 articles proved to be proper for further analysis, being clinical trials regarding acute respiratory infections (including flu). We have found high variations in serum vitD levels in different races and geographic areas; we observed that despite these
variations, a serum level with at least 10 nmol/L higher than the mean basic serum level concentration appears to be protective. For enhancing the serum level, the studied trials used either daily doses (800-2.000 IU), or singles higher doses (100.000 IU) eventually repeated. The conclusion from almost all trials is that roughly vitamin D may be an effective adjuvant in the anti-infective therapy.

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