1. Int Immunopharmacol. 2020 Feb;79:106112. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2019.106112. Epub 
2019 Dec 24.

Vitamin D and microbiota: Two sides of the same coin in the immunomodulatory 
aspects.

Malaguarnera L(1).

Author information:
(1)Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of 
Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 97, Catania, Italy. Electronic address: 
lucmal@unict.it.

The gut microbiota is crucial for host immune response, vitamin synthesis, short 
chain fatty acids (SCFAs) production, intestinal permeability, nutrient 
digestion energy metabolism and protection from pathogens. Therefore, gut 
microbiota guarantees the host's predisposition to gastrointestinal diseases. 
Intestinal microbiota may be damaged by environmental components with negative 
health conditions. Dysbiosis consisting in alteration in the gut microbiota has 
been involved in several disorders including inflammation, allergic reactions, 
autoimmune diseases, heart diseases, obesity, and metabolic syndrome and even in 
the state of malignant carcinogenesis existing in humans. Several 
epidemiological studies have shown that inadequate solar exposure results in 
vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency which has a strong impact on different immune 
responses and the occurrence of a wide range of pathological conditions. 
Additionally, new evidence indicates that the vitamin D pathway plays a key role 
in gut homeostasis. Due to the strong connection between vitamin D and 
microbiota, herein we focus on the new findings about intestinal bacteria-immune 
crosstalk and the impact of vitamin D in gut microbiota regulation, in order to 
offer new clarifications on their interaction. Understanding the mechanism by 
which vitamin D can affect the gut microbiota composition and its dynamic 
activities, as well as the innate and adaptive state of the immune system, is 
not only a fundamental research but also an opportunity to improve health 
status.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2019.106112
PMID: 31877495 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Conflict of interest statement: Declaration of Competing Interest The author 
declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or 
financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of 
interest.