Effect of vitamin D₃ on antimicrobial peptide gene expression in the neutrophils of pulmonary tuberculosis patients.

Afsal, K.; Banurekha, V.V.; Meenakshi, N.; Harishankar, M.; Selvaraj, P.

Current Science; 2014; 107; 259-262.

Abstract: We studied the effect of 1 a 25 dihydroxy vitamin D₃ (1 a ,25(OH) 2 D₃), the active form of vitamin D₃ , on the expression of cathelicidin (CAMP), defensin- a 3 (DEF- a 3) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes in neutrophils cultured with or without Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) from pulmonary tuberculosis patients and healthy controls. Vitamin D 3 significantly enhanced the CAMP, DEF- a 3 and VDR mRNA expression in the neutrophils of both the study groups ( P < 0.05). Moreover, significantly upregulated CAMP expression was observed in vitamin D₃ -treated neutrophils infected with Mtb ( P < 0.05) in both the study groups. These findings suggest that vitamin D₃ enhances innate immunity by increasing the expression of the CAMP gene, which might inhibit the growth of Mtb at the site of infection.

Keywords : Antimicrobial peptide genes; cathelicidin;neutrophils;tuberculosis;vitamin D₃.

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