The Distinct Regulation of the Vitamin D and Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptors in COVID-19

DOI record: { "DOI": "10.3390/nu16050598", "ISSN": [ "2072-6643" ], "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/nu16050598", "abstract": "<jats:p>(1) Background: SARS-CoV-2 affects several immune pathways, including the vitamin D (VDR) and the aryl hydrocarbon receptor pathways (AhR). The aim of the study was the evaluation of the VDR and AhR pathways in the blood of COVID-19 patients with regard to the severity of disease. (2) Methods: Observational, single-center, case–control design. A total of 240 samples were selected for exploration. Patients who tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 but suffered from other respiratory infections (ORIs) served as a control group. (3) Results: VDR-specific mRNA in the blood of patients with mild symptoms (131.2 ± 198.6) was significantly upregulated relative to the VDR expression of the ORI group (23.24 ± 42.60; p &lt; 0.0001); however, VDR expression of critically ill patients showed an impaired upregulation (54.73 ± 68.34; p &lt; 0.001). CYP27B1 expression was not significantly regulated during SARS-CoV-2 infection. There was a downregulation of VDR and CYP27B1 compared to survivors. There was no significant difference in 25(OH)-vitamin D3 levels between critically ill patients with regard to survival (24.3 ± 9.4 vs. 27.1 ± 11.3; p = 0.433). (4) Conclusion: The VDR and AhR pathways are distinctively regulated in patients suffering from COVID-19 depending on the severity of disease. A combination treatment of antiviral drugs and vitamin D substitution should be evaluated for potentially improved prognosis in COVID-19.</jats:p>", "alternative-id": [ "nu16050598" ], "author": [ { "ORCID": "http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3238-194X", "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria" } ], "authenticated-orcid": false, "family": "Robak", "given": "Oliver", "sequence": "first" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria" } ], "family": "Kastner", "given": "Marie-Theres", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Laboratory Medicine, Klinik Landstraße, 1030 Vienna, Austria" } ], "family": "Voill-Glaninger", "given": "Astrid", "sequence": "additional" }, { "ORCID": "http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7141-8867", "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Laboratory Medicine, Klinik Landstraße, 1030 Vienna, Austria" } ], "authenticated-orcid": false, "family": "Viveiros", "given": "André", "sequence": "additional" }, { "ORCID": "http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3500-7205", "affiliation": [ { "name": "Department of Internal Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria" }, { "name": "Karl-Landsteiner Institute for Microbiome Research, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria" } ], "authenticated-orcid": false, "family": "Steininger", "given": "Christoph", "sequence": "additional" } ], "container-title": "Nutrients", "container-title-short": "Nutrients", "content-domain": { "crossmark-restriction": false, "domain": [] }, "created": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 22 ] ], "date-time": "2024-02-22T13:34:35Z", "timestamp": 1708608875000 }, "deposited": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 22 ] ], "date-time": "2024-02-22T14:30:13Z", "timestamp": 1708612213000 }, "funder": [ { "award": [ "#COVID037" ], "name": "Medical-Scientific Fund of the Mayor of the Federal Capital Vienna" }, { "award": [ "#P33546-B" ], "name": "Austrian Science Fund" } ], "indexed": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 23 ] ], "date-time": "2024-02-23T00:44:46Z", "timestamp": 1708649086460 }, "is-referenced-by-count": 0, "issue": "5", "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 22 ] ] }, "journal-issue": { "issue": "5", "published-online": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 3 ] ] } }, "language": "en", "license": [ { "URL": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "content-version": "vor", "delay-in-days": 0, "start": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 22 ] ], "date-time": "2024-02-22T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 1708560000000 } } ], "link": [ { "URL": "https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/16/5/598/pdf", "content-type": "unspecified", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "similarity-checking" } ], "member": "1968", "original-title": [], "page": "598", "prefix": "10.3390", "published": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 22 ] ] }, "published-online": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 2, 22 ] ] }, "publisher": "MDPI AG", "reference": [ { "DOI": "10.1038/s41586-020-2008-3", "article-title": "A new coronavirus associated with human respiratory disease in China", "author": "Wu", "doi-asserted-by": "crossref", "first-page": "265", "journal-title": "Nature", "key": "ref_1", "volume": "579", "year": "2020" }, { "DOI": "10.1056/NEJMoa2001017", "article-title": "A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019", "author": "Zhu", "doi-asserted-by": "crossref", "first-page": "727", "journal-title": "N. 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