Vitamin D3 Protects Skin Wounds from Infection

Not only has it been shown to have potentials in reducing cancer risks, Vitamin D also appears to control the body’s innate immune response, affecting a skin wound’s ability to heal. It appears to play an important role in the body’s ability to produce cathelicidin, a compound produced by wounds and is necessary to fight infections.

Gallo’s team has now discovered that injury stimulates skin cells called keratinocytes, which surround the wound, to increase the production of vitamin D3 and that this in turn increases the expression of genes (CD14 and TLR2) that detect microbes. These genes, together with active vitamin D3, called 1,25D3, then lead to more cathelicidin. In both mice and humans, a deficiency in cathelicidin allows infections to develop more readily.

Thus, a deficiency in active D3 may compromise the body’s innate immune system, thus making one more vulnerable to microbial infection. The researchers are beginning clinical trials at UCSD Medical Center with both oral and topical vitamin D3 to determine if vitamin D3 can improve natural immune defenses in healthy volunteers as well as in patients with disorders in antimicrobial peptide production.