MECHANISMS IN ENDOCRINOLOGY: Vitamin D and COVID-19.

Endocrinology Division, Department of Medicine, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA. Endocrine Unit, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA. Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. Division of Endocrinology, Escola Paulista de Medicina - Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (EPM-UNIFESP), Sao Paulo, Brazil. Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences, San Raffaele, Vita-Salute University and IRCCS Hospital, Milano, Italy. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA. Clinical Trials Center, Cardiovascular Research Foundation, New York, New York, USA. Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Osteoporosis Center of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia. School of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, California, USA. Unit of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA. Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.

European journal of endocrinology. 2020;(5):R133-R147

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic has generated an explosion of interest both in the mechanisms of infection leading to dissemination and expression of this disease, and in potential risk factors that may have a mechanistic basis for disease propagation or control. Vitamin D has emerged as a factor that may be involved in these two areas. The focus of this article is to apply our current understanding of vitamin D as a facilitator of immunocompetence both with regard to innate and adaptive immunity and to consider how this may relate to COVID-19 disease. There are also intriguing potential links to vitamin D as a factor in the cytokine storm that portends some of the most serious consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as the acute respiratory distress syndrome. Moreover, cardiac and coagulopathic features of COVID-19 disease deserve attention as they may also be related to vitamin D. Finally, we review the current clinical data associating vitamin D with SARS-CoV-2 infection, a putative clinical link that at this time must still be considered hypothetical.

Methodological quality

Publication Type : Review

Metadata