Novel roles of vitamin D in disease: What is new in 2011?

作者：Makariou Stefania; Liberopoulos Evangelos N; Elisaf Moses; Challa Anna^*

来源：European Journal of Internal Medicine, 2011, 22(4): 355-362.

DOI：10.1016/j.ejim.2011.04.012

• Vitamin D
• Mortality
• Metabolic syndrome
• Cardiovascular disease
• Immune system
• Cancer

Vitamin D is a steroid molecule, mainly produced in the skin that regulates the expression of a large number of genes. Until recently its main known role was to control bone metabolism and calcium and phosphorus homeostasis. During the last 2 decades it has been realized that vitamin D deficiency, which is really common worldwide, could be a new risk factor for many chronic diseases, such as the metabolic syndrome and its components, the whole spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, several auto-immune conditions, and many types of cancer as well as all-cause mortality. Except for the great number of epidemiological studies that support the above presumptions, vitamin D receptors (VDRs) have been identified in many tissues and cells. The effect of vitamin D supplementation remains controversial and the need for more persuasive study outcomes is intense.

• 出版日期2011-8