Cell Metabolism
Volume 32, Issue 5, 3 November 2020, Pages 704-709
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Perspective
Shining Light on the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Vitamin D Receptor Checkpoint in Defense of Unregulated Wound Healing

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2020.09.007Get rights and content
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Summary

SARS-CoV-2 pneumonitis can quickly strike to incapacitate the lung, leading to severe disease and sometimes death. In this perspective, we suggest that vitamin D deficiency and the failure to activate the vitamin D receptor (VDR) can aggravate this respiratory syndrome by igniting a wounding response in stellate cells of the lung. The FDA-approved injectable vitamin D analog, paricalcitol, suppresses stellate cell-derived murine hepatic and pancreatic pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic changes. Therefore, we suggest a possible parallel program in the pulmonary stellate cells of COVID-19 patients and propose repurposing paricalcitol infusion therapy to restrain the COVID-19 cytokine storm. This proposed therapy could prove important to people of color who have higher COVID-19 mortality rates and lower vitamin D levels.

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