Vitamin D: Beyond Traditional Roles-Insights into Its Biochemical Pathways and Physiological Impacts

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology
• Molecular Biology
• Nutritional Science

Background:

• Vitamin D, the "sunshine vitamin," is increasingly viewed as a hormone with extensive health benefits.
• Historically linked to skeletal integrity and calcium-phosphorus balance, its roles are now understood to be far broader.
• Recent research challenges traditional views on vitamin D's mechanisms of action.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the evolving understanding of vitamin D's bioactivities beyond its classical roles.
• To investigate emerging noncanonical pathways and analogs of vitamin D.
• To highlight the potential for new therapeutic strategies targeting vitamin D's full spectrum of actions.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across major scientific databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library).

Main Results:

• New research challenges the "one hormone-one receptor" hypothesis for vitamin D.
• The vitamin D receptor (VDR) is not the sole mediator of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3's effects.
• Other vitamin D metabolites interact with nuclear receptors like RORα, RORγ, and AhR, eliciting diverse biological responses.

Conclusions:

• Vitamin D warrants a central role in holistic and dermatological health research.
• Investigating synergies between canonical and noncanonical vitamin D pathways offers new insights.
• Opportunities exist to manipulate and understand vitamin D's actions beyond mineral homeostasis.