An international team of scientists has found that vitamin D has an essential role in the body’s fight against infections such as tuberculosis.
Published online in Science Translational Medicine, researchers examined the mechanisms that govern the immune system’s ability to kill or inhibit the growth of pathogens such as M. tuberculosis, the bacteria causing tuberculosis. The team found that T-cells release a protein called interferon that triggers communication between cells and directs the infected immune cells to attack the invading tuberculosis bacteria. However, this activation requires sufficient levels of vitamin D to be effective. The researchers found that there was an 85% reduction of colony-forming tuberculosis bacteria in human macrophage cells that were effectively treated with interferon in the presence of sufficient vitamin D.
