Inhibitory effects of Vitamin D on inflammation and IL-6 release. A further support for COVID-19 management?

B. Orrù, J. Szekeres-Bartho, M. Bizzarri, A.M. Spiga, V. Unfer

R&D Department, Lo.Li. Pharma S.r.l., Rome, Italy. vunfer@gmail.com

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• Infectious Diseases

The ongoing worldwide pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), raised the urgency to address knowledge gaps and to establish evidence for improving management and control of this viral infection. Throughout a keen analysis of the World Health Organization (WHO) most updated data, a gender-specific difference in the occurrence of infection was determined, which seems to correlate with patient’s vitamin D status. Therefore, our purpose is to provide insights into the nutritional importance of vitamin D for its immunomodulatory effect, in order to help counteracting the COVID-19 pandemic. Novel interesting findings suggest that vitamin D, by inducing progesterone-induced blocking factor (PIBF), might regulate the immune response and also modulate cytokine IL-6, which appears to be increased in COVID-19 infections. Therefore, in addition to the standard recommendations to prevent the infection, supplementation of vitamin D might be considered an approach to help counteracting this global epidemic.

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