• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Monday, May 26, 2025
Manhattan Tribune
  • Home
  • World
  • International
  • Wall Street
  • Business
  • Health
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World
  • International
  • Wall Street
  • Business
  • Health
No Result
View All Result
Manhattan Tribune
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

How Vitamin D Deficiency Can Lead to Autoimmune Diseases

manhattantribune.com by manhattantribune.com
21 October 2024
in Science
0
How Vitamin D Deficiency Can Lead to Autoimmune Diseases
0
SHARES
0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Reduced thymic cellularity and impaired T cell development in CypKO mice. Credit: Scientific advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adm9582

As Canadians prepare for “vitamin D winter” – months when the sun’s angle is too low to produce the vitamin in the skin – a McGill University study explains why vitamin D deficiency in early life is associated with a higher risk of autoimmune diseases.

During childhood, the thymus helps immune cells distinguish between the body’s own tissues and harmful invaders. Vitamin D deficiency at this stage of life causes the thymus to age more quickly, researchers found.

The study is published in the journal Scientific advances.

“An aging thymus causes the immune system to ‘leak,'” said lead author John White, professor and chair of the Department of Physiology at McGill. “This means the thymus becomes less effective at filtering immune cells that might mistakenly attack healthy tissue, increasing the risk of autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes.”

He noted that researchers have known for years that vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium for strong bones, and more recent research has discovered its crucial role in regulating the immune system.

“Our findings provide new clarity to this link and could lead to new strategies for preventing autoimmune diseases,” he said.

Although the research was conducted on mice, the findings are relevant to human health because the thymus functions similarly in both species, White added.

The importance of a substitute for sunlight

The findings highlight the importance of adequate vitamin D intake, particularly for children.

“In places like Montreal, where we stop producing the sun’s vitamins between late fall and early spring, supplementation is essential,” White said. “If you have a young child, it’s important to check with your health care provider to make sure they’re getting enough.”

This advance is based on a Finnish study from 2001, which followed more than 10,000 children. It found that children who received a vitamin D supplement from a young age had up to a five-fold lower risk of developing type 1 diabetes later in life.

Finland, with its long winter periods of vitamin D, makes an ideal case study for learning more about the many roles of this nutrient, White said.

In the McGill study, researchers used mice unable to produce vitamin D to examine how the deficiency affected the thymus, using cellular analysis and gene sequencing to see how this affects the immune system.

In future studies, White hopes to explore how vitamin D affects the human thymus, which he says has never been done before.

More information:
Patricio Artusa et al, Asymmetric differentiation of epithelial cells and premature aging of the thymus in the absence of vitamin D signaling, Scientific advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adm9582

Provided by McGill University

Quote: How vitamin D deficiency can lead to autoimmune diseases (October 21, 2024) retrieved October 21, 2024 from

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from fair use for private study or research purposes, no part may be reproduced without written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only.



Tags: autoimmunedeficiencydiseasesleadVitamin
Previous Post

A micro-scale look at how parachute fibers respond under stress

Next Post

Redesigned immune cells activated by blue light penetrate and kill solid tumors

Next Post
Redesigned immune cells activated by blue light penetrate and kill solid tumors

Redesigned immune cells activated by blue light penetrate and kill solid tumors

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Category

  • Blog
  • Business
  • Health
  • International
  • National
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Wall Street
  • World
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact

© 2023 Manhattan Tribune -By Millennium Press

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • International
  • World
  • Business
  • Science
  • National
  • Sports

© 2023 Manhattan Tribune -By Millennium Press