Chronic Ethanol Exposure Effects on Vitamin D Levels Among Subjects with Alcohol Use Disorder.

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Olalekan Ogunsakin, Tulane University; Tete Hottor, Tulane University; Ashish Mehta, Emory University; Maureen Lichtveld, Tulane University; Michael McCaskill, Tulane University
• Language: English
• Date: 2016
• Publisher: Libertas Academica
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2016 the author(s), publisher and licensee Libertas Academica Ltd.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.4137/EHI.S40335
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Environmental Health Insights
• ISSN: 1178-6302
• Volume: 10
• Start Page: 191
• End Page: 199
• Grant/Funding Information: Dr. Ashish Mehta is supported by a Career Development Award (1IK2CX000643) from the Department of Veterans Affairs (Clinical Science Research and Development).; Dr. Ellen Burnham’s COPARC is supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health, award number R24AA019661; with additional support provided by the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, funded by NIH/NCATS award, number UL1TR001082.; Dr. McCaskill is supported by the National Institute of Health (NI H) Research grant (1KO1HL121041) and Louisiana Board of Regents, LEQSF.
• Keywords: Excessive ethanol; vitamin D; cathelicidin; pneumonia; CYP27B1; CYP2E1
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Epidemiology; Environmental Sciences

Abstract

Vitamin D has been previously recognized to play important roles in human immune system and function. In the pulmonary system, vitamin D regulates the function of antimicrobial peptides, especially cathelicidin/LL-37. Human cathelicidin/LL-37 is a bactericidal, bacteriostatic, and antiviral endogenous peptide with protective immune functions. Chronic exposure to excessive alcohol has the potential to reduce levels of vitamin D (inactive vitamin D [25(OH)D3] and active vitamin D [1, 25(OH)2D3]) and leads to downregulation of cathelicidin/LL-37. Alcohol-mediated reduction of LL-37 may be partly responsible for increased incidence of more frequent and severe respiratory infections among subjects with alcohol use disorder (AUD). The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanisms by which alcohol exerts its influence on vitamin D metabolism. In addition, the aim was to establish associations between chronic alcohol exposures, levels of pulmonary vitamin D, and cathelicidin/LL-37 using broncho-alveolar lavage fluid samples of subjects with AUD and healthy controls. Findings from the experiment showed that levels of inactive vitamin D (25(OH)D3), active vitamin D (1, 25(OH)2D3), cathelicidin/LL-37, and CYP27B1 proteins were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) when compared with the matched healthy control group. However, CYP2E1 was elevated in all the samples examined. Chronic exposure to alcohol has the potential to reduce the levels of pulmonary vitamin D and results in subsequent downregulation of the antimicrobial peptide, LL-37, in the human pulmonary system.