Two precursor forms of vitamin D may protect against HIV infection through three distinct mechanisms, a study published in Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes found. Researchers used different concentrations of the two provitamins, cholecalciferol and calcidiol, to culture peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 39 Colombian and Italian volunteers who are not living with HIV. These cells, along with untreated PBMCs serving as controls, were then infected with X4-tropic HIV and certain properties were measured.
Cholecalciferol lowered the percentage of cells infected with HIV and the concentration of p24 viral protein in the infected cells. The provitamin also affected the expression of immune activation markers in T cells and reduced HIV infection in CD4+ cells. Calcidiol, in turn, lowered productive HIV infection and affected mitochondrial RNA expression of the CCR5…
