Informatics Publishing Limited

K. Afsal ¹, V. V. Banurekha ², N. Meenakshi ³, M. Harishankar ¹, P. Selvaraj ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Immunology, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (formerly Tuberculosis Research Centre), Indian Council of Medical Research, 1, Mayor Sathyamoorthy Road, Chetput, Chennai 600 031, IN
2 Department of Clinical Research, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (formerly Tuberculosis Research Centre), Indian Council of Medical Research, 1, Mayor Sathyamoorthy Road, Chetput, Chennai 600 031, IN
3 Institute for Thoracic Medicine, Chetput, Chennai 600 031, IN

Abstract

We studied the effect of 1α 25 dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1α,25(OH)₂D₃), the active form of vitamin D₃, on the expression of cathelicidin (CAMP), defensin-α3 (DEF- α3) and vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes in neutrophils cultured with or without Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) from pulmonary tuberculosis patients and healthy controls. Vitamin D₃ significantly enhanced the CAMP, DEF-α3 and VDR mRNA expression in the neutrophils of both the study groups (P < 0.05). Moreover, significantly upregulated CAMP expression was observed in vitamin D₃-treated neutrophils infected with Mtb (P < 0.05) in both the study groups. These findings suggest that vitamin D₃ enhances innate immunity by increasing the expression of the CAMP gene, which might inhibit the growth of Mtb at the site of infection.

Keywords

Antimicrobial Peptide Genes, Cathelicidin, Neutrophils, Tuberculosis, Vitamin D₃.

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