Vitamin D Signaling Maintains Intestinal Innate Immunity and Gut Microbiota: Potential Intervention for Metabolic Syndrome and NAFLD.

Vitamin D Signaling Maintains Intestinal Innate Immunity and Gut Microbiota: Potential Intervention for Metabolic Syndrome and NAFLD. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2020 Jan 27;: Authors: Zeng Y, Luo M, Pan L, Chen Y, Guo S, Luo D, Zhu L, Liu Y, Pan L, Xu S, Zhang R, Zhang C, Wu P, Ge L, Noureddin M, Pandol SJ, Han YP Abstract Lacking sunlight exposure, northern latitudes, and dietary vitamin D insufficiency are co-prevalent with metabolic syndrome (MetS), type-2 diabetes (T2D), and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD), implying potential causality and underlying mechanism. Whether vitamin D supplement or treatment can improve these disorders is controversial, due in part to absence of large-scale trials. Experimental investigation on the other hand uncovered novel biological functions of vitamin D in development, tumor suppression, and immune regulation, far beyond its original role as a vitamin in maintaining calcium homeostasis. While the big intestine harbors massive numbers of microbes, the small intestine has minimal level of bacteria, indicating the existence of a gating system presented in the distal region of small intestine that may restrain bacterial translocation up to the small intestine. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) was found highly expressed at the distal region of small intestine where the VD signaling promotes innate immunity including the expression of alpha-defensins by Paneth cells, and maintain the in...
Source: Am J Physiol Gastroi... - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Tags: Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol Source Type: research