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Lung function decline halted in COPD and Asthma by Vitamin D

Lung function decline halted in COPD and Asthma by Vitamin D According to researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Vitamin D can slow down the progressive decline in the ability to breathe that can happen to some asthmatic people as a result of human airway smooth muscle (HASM) proliferation.

It was found that calcitriol, which is a form of vitamin D synthesized within the body, minimizes growth-factor-induced HASM proliferation in cells that are isolated from people affected by asthma and even those not affected by the ailment.

From Sciencedaily.com:

The experiments were conducted with cells from 12 subjects, and the researchers compared calcitriol with dexmethasone, a corticosteroid prescribed widely for the treatment of asthma. Although, dexmethasone is also a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, the researchers found that it had little effect on HASM growth.

Dr. Damera and his colleagues found calcitriol inhibits HASM in a dose-dependent manner, with a maximum inhibitory effect of 60 percent ± 3 percent at 100nM.

As part of the University of Pennsylvania’s Airway Biology Initiative, the researchers are planning a randomized control trial of calcitriol in patients with severe asthma and expect to have data from the trial in about a year’s time.

Gautam Damera, Ph.D., who will present the research at the American Thoracic Society’s 105th International Conference in San Diego, remarked that calcitriol has the potential of delivering dramatic results because f its anti-inflammatory characteristics.

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