Vitamin D Essential to Immune Defenses

A number of previous studies suggest the health benefits of maintaining adequate Vitamin D levels.  Victor Manuel Martinez-Taboada, from the Universidad de Cantabria (Spain), and colleagues studied blood levels of Vitamin D among three groups of healthy subjects: young (age range: 20-30), middle (age range: 31-59), and elderly (age range: 60-86). They found decreased levels of vitamin D with aging, prompting researchers to compare whether such changes kept any relationship with toll-like receptor (TLR) expression measured on lymphocytes and monocytes and function after in vitro stimulation with specific ligands for each of the nine human TLRs and measurement of effector molecules, such as proinflammatory cytokines. Specifically, they found that the TRL most affected by a vitamin D insufficiency is TLR7, which regulates the immune response against viruses.   Writing that: “Aging is accompanied by changes in expression and function of several [toll-like receptors],” the study authors submit that: “Serum [Vitamin D] levels decrease with age and are also associated with a change in expression and defective function of certain [toll-like receptors], especially those involved in viral response.”