COVID-19 Disease and Vitamin D: A Mini-Review

Mohamed Said Boulkrane; Victoria Ilina; Roman Melchakov; Julia Fedotova; Filippo Drago; Lucia Gozzo; Undurti Narasimha Das; A M Abd El-Aty; Denis Baranenko

doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.604579

COVID-19 Disease and Vitamin D: A Mini-Review

Front Pharmacol. 2020 Dec 17:11:604579. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.604579. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ International Research Centre "Biotechnologies of the Third Millennium", ITMO University, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
² Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology, I.P. Pavlov Institute of Physiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia.
³ Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
⁴ Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Biological Tower, School of Medicine, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
⁵ UND Life Sciences, Battle Ground, WA, United States.
⁶ Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
⁷ Department of Medical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey.

Abstract

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2, for which there is no effective treatment except employing prevention strategies, has already instituted significant number of deaths. In this review, we provide a scientific view on the potential role of vitamin D in SARS-CoV-2 virus/COVID-19 disease. Vitamin D is well-known to play a significant role in maintaining the immune health of an individual. Moreover, it induces antimicrobial peptide expression that can decrease viral replication and regulate the levels of pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, supplementation of vitamin D has the potential to reduce the incidence, severity and the risk of death from pneumonia resulting from the cytokine storm of many viral infections including COVID-19. We suggest that supplementation of subjects at high risk of COVID-19 with vitamin D (1.000 to 3.000 IU) to maintain its optimum serum concentrations may be of significant benefit for both in the prevention and treatment of the COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID 19; SARS-CoV-2; respiratory tract infection; vitamin D3; vitamin D3 receptor.

Publication types

Review