Inflammatory response modulation by vitamin D in uncomplicated severe acute malnutrition: in vitro evidence

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) remains a growing public health concern in India, with increasing prevalence in recent national surveys. It is associated with impaired growth, neurodevelopmental deficits, and heightened infection risk. Inflammation and oxidative stress play central roles in its pathogenesis and mortality. Vitamin D (VD) has immunomodulatory and antioxidant effects, but its impact on inflammatory mediators and their regulators in SAM is poorly understood, with limited mechanistic evidence from human studies.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were isolated from 10 participants suffering from uncomplicated SAM. The PBMCs were treated with VD for a period of 24 h following which the mRNA expression of inflammatory markers (TNFα & IFN γ), their modulators (SOCS1 & SOCS3) and PINK1 was measured by qPCR.

Mean age of the participants was 30 ± 12 months. Following VD treatment, we noted a 2.4-fold decrease in mRNA expression of TNFα, 4.4-fold decrease in mRNA expression of IFN γ, 1.4-fold and 1.6-fold increase in mRNA expression of SOCS1 and SOCS3 compared to untreated ones (controls). No difference in mRNA expression of PINK1 was observed in the two group of cells.

Vitamin D treatment is associated with a decreased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α and IFN-γ) and a concomitant increase in expression of immunoregulatory genes SOCS1 and SOCS3 in PBMCs isolated from children suffering from uncomplicated SAM.