Abstract
BackgroundVitamin D plays an important role in pulmonary resistance and immunity, and its deficiency has been linked to various respiratory infections. Little is known about the effect of vitamin D deficiency on host pulmonary defense to Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus).MethodsMice raised on vitamin D sufficient or deficient diets were infected intratracheally with A. fumigatus conidia. Mortality, fungal growth, weight loss and lung histology were monitored. Alveolar macrophages (AMs) were stimulated with A. fumigatus conidia in vitro. The kinetics of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6), chemokines (CXCL1, CCL3), and pattern recognition receptors (Toll-like receptor [TLR] 2, TLR 4 and dectin-1) expression in the lungs and AMs were measured.ResultsUpon A. fumigatus infection, vitamin D deficient mice showed higher mortality, greater fungal load, and more weight loss than its sufficient counterparts. Vitamin D deficient mice demonstrated aggravated and prolonged histological evidence of lung inflammation as well as enhanced BAL cell counts, dominated by neutrophils after A. fumigatus inoculation. Increased basal levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the lungs and AMs from naïve vitamin D deficient mice were observed. Upon A. fumigatus exposure, vitamin D deficiency led to enhanced and sustained expression of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, CXCL1 and CCL3 both in vivo and in vitro. Up-regulation of TLR2, TLR4 and dectin-1was observed in the lungs and AMs from vitamin D deficient mice both at baseline and after A. fumigatus exposure.ConclusionsVitamin D deficiency causes defective pulmonary resistance to A. fumigatus in mice, possibly by the enhanced basal expression of pattern recognition receptors and pro-inflammatory cytokines, which induced excessive inflammatory response in response to A. fumigatus challenge.
Highlights
It is increasingly recognized that vitamin D plays an important role in pulmonary defense, immunity, and inflammatory processes [1,2]
To investigate whether vitamin D deficiency alters host resistance to A. fumigatus, we generated C57BL/6J mice that were nutritionally deficient in vitamin D as previously described [16]
Infection with 56107 conidia resulted in significantly higher mortality in VitD- mice than in VitD+ mice (45%; 9/20 mice versus 15%; 3/20 mice, respectively) (Fig. 1A)
Summary
It is increasingly recognized that vitamin D plays an important role in pulmonary defense, immunity, and inflammatory processes [1,2]. Immune effects of vitamin D include increased secretion of the antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin, decreased chemokine production, inhibition of dendritic cell activation, and alteration of T-cell activation [6]. These cellular effects are important for host responses against infection and impaired vitamin D status would compromise the immune activity of vitamin D. Vitamin D plays an important role in pulmonary resistance and immunity, and its deficiency has been linked to various respiratory infections. Little is known about the effect of vitamin D deficiency on host pulmonary defense to Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus)
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