Friday Hope: Vitamin D Revisited - A New COVID-19 Study Shows Additional Promise and It Has Anti-Fibrotic Properties: Could Its Suppression Of RAS Be Its Main Benefit?

Additional Support For My Belief From The Very Beginning Of The Benefits Of Vitamin D As Therapeutic For SARS-CoV-2

As anyone who has followed my work from the beginning knows, I have long hypothesized that Vitamin D would be a very effective therapeutic to treat SARS-CoV-2. A study published last week on November 12 showed the following:

Vitamin D deficiency has long been associated with reduced immune function that can lead to viral infection. Several studies have shown that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increases the risk of infection with COVID-19. However, it is unknown if treatment with Vitamin D can reduce the associated risk of COVID-19 infection, which is the focus of this study. In the population of US veterans, we show that Vitamin D2 and D3 fills were associated with reductions in COVID-19 infection of 28% and 20%, respectively [(D3 Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.80, [95% CI 0.77, 0.83]), D2 HR = 0.72, [95% CI 0.65, 0.79]]. Mortality within 30-days of COVID-19 infection was similarly 33% lower with Vitamin D3 and 25% lower with D2 (D3 HR = 0.67, [95% CI 0.59, 0.75]; D2 HR = 0.75, [95% CI 0.55, 1.04]). We also find that after controlling for vitamin D blood levels, veterans receiving higher dosages of Vitamin D obtained greater benefits from supplementation than veterans receiving lower dosages. Veterans with Vitamin D blood levels between 0 and 19 ng/ml exhibited the largest decrease in COVID-19 infection following supplementation. Black veterans received greater associated COVID-19 risk reductions with supplementation than White veterans. As a safe, widely available, and affordable treatment, Vitamin D may help to reduce the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Association between vitamin D supplementation and COVID-19 infection and mortality
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24053-4

As you may read above, the study showed not only a 33% reduction of COVID mortality with Vitamin D3, it also showed a 20% reduction from being infected with SARS-CoV-2. Therefore the benefits are both preventative and therapeutic.

In addition to the usual anti-viral properties of Vitamin D, I believe it also holds another property which is beneficial against SARS-CoV-2. As I wrote back in March, levels of Vitamin D are directly corelated to levels of the Vitamin D Binding Protein. This protein is able to inactivate F-Actin, which is involved in COVID’s platelet activation.

VITAMIN D, OR VITAMIN D BINDING PROTEIN

Furthermore, building on previous work, the direction which my research has taken now provides a potential additional benefit of Vitamin D. It is also antifibrotic! What is most fascinating, is that is has these properties from its ability to suppress RAS!

Treatment with vitamin D’s active form lessened lung scarring, and significantly reduced the levels of fibrotic markers in a mouse model of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a study reported.

Notably, these benefits were associated with vitamin D’s suppression of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), whose chronic activation promotes the production of pro-fibrotic molecules and the development of lung fibrosis (scarring).

Losartan, an approved blood pressure medication that works by suppressing RAS, also eased fibrosis in the animals’ lungs.

These findings shed light on the mechanisms behind vitamin D’s previously reported anti-fibrotic properties and suggest that vitamin D supplements and RAS-suppressing therapies may help to manage IPF, the researchers noted.

Vitamin D Eases Lung Fibrosis by Blocking RAS Pathway, Study Finds
https://pulmonaryfibrosisnews.com/news/vitamin-d-eases-lung-fibrosis-by-blocking-ras-pathway-study-finds/

Vitamin D suppresses bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by targeting the local renin–angiotensin system in the lung
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-96152-7

We need studies to now investigate Vitamin D and RAS suppression in those with COVID, Long COVID and its potential to treat SPED, should the SPED hypothesis be proven true.