A new study led by researchers at the University of Copenhagen has confirmed that vitamin D plays an important role in activating immune defenses against infectious diseases like flu.
Vitamin D deficiency has already been linked to a wide spectrum of diseases including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, autoimmune disease and many others.
The researchers discovered that activation of T-cells to fight infections needs definite help from vitamin D. First when the naive T cell recognizes foreign invaders like bacteria or viruses with T cell receptor (TCR), it sends activating signals to the vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene. The VDR gene then starts producing DVR protein, which binds vitamin D in the T cell and becomes activated. Then the vitamin D bound and activated DVR gets into the cell nucleus and activates the gene for PLC-gamma1, which in turn produces PLC-gamma1 protein and the T cells begin fighting the infection.
[Source]
Chapter: Vitamins :: 27 June 2010
