TY - JOUR
T1 - Vitamin A, immunity, and infection
AU - Semba, Richard D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Financial support: This work was supported in part by grants from the National Institutes of Health (AI35l43. HD30042): the Thrasher Research Fund; the World Health Organization Expanded Programme on Immunization; the Office of Nutrition. Bureau for Science and Technology. U.S. Agency for International Development (Cooperative Agreement DAN-0045-A-5094-00): and Research to Prevent Blindness and by an Eli Lilly Clinician Scientist Award.
PY - 1994/9
Y1 - 1994/9
N2 - Although a role for vitamin A in immunity to infectious diseases has long been suggested, only in the last decade have epidemiological, immunologic, and molecular studies yielded substantial evidence for a central role. The recent discovery of retinoic acid and retinoid X receptors has provided a molecular basis for the action of vitamin A and its metabolites at the level of gene activation. At least a dozen clinical trials have now demonstrated that vitamin A supplementation reduces severe morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases among children who have acute measles or who are from areas in which vitamin A deficiency is endemic. Vitamin A deficiency is an immunodeficiency disorder characterized by widespread alterations in immunity, including pathological alterations in mucosal surfaces, impaired antibody responses to challenge with protein antigens, changes in lymphocyte subpopulations, and altered T- and B-cell function. Vitamin A and its metabolites are immune enhancers that have been shown to potentiate antibody responses to T cell-dependent antigens, increase lymphocyte proliferation responses to antigens and mitogens, inhibit apoptosis, and restore the integrity and function of mucosal surfaces. Vitamin A and related retinoids may have potential applications in therapy for some infectious diseases.
AB - Although a role for vitamin A in immunity to infectious diseases has long been suggested, only in the last decade have epidemiological, immunologic, and molecular studies yielded substantial evidence for a central role. The recent discovery of retinoic acid and retinoid X receptors has provided a molecular basis for the action of vitamin A and its metabolites at the level of gene activation. At least a dozen clinical trials have now demonstrated that vitamin A supplementation reduces severe morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases among children who have acute measles or who are from areas in which vitamin A deficiency is endemic. Vitamin A deficiency is an immunodeficiency disorder characterized by widespread alterations in immunity, including pathological alterations in mucosal surfaces, impaired antibody responses to challenge with protein antigens, changes in lymphocyte subpopulations, and altered T- and B-cell function. Vitamin A and its metabolites are immune enhancers that have been shown to potentiate antibody responses to T cell-dependent antigens, increase lymphocyte proliferation responses to antigens and mitogens, inhibit apoptosis, and restore the integrity and function of mucosal surfaces. Vitamin A and related retinoids may have potential applications in therapy for some infectious diseases.
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U2 - 10.1093/clinids/19.3.489
DO - 10.1093/clinids/19.3.489
M3 - Article
C2 - 7811869
AN - SCOPUS:0028040982
SN - 1058-4838
VL - 19
SP - 489
EP - 499
JO - Clinical Infectious Diseases
JF - Clinical Infectious Diseases
IS - 3
ER -