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Cigarette smoke reduced vitamin D3 levels

Exposure to cigarette smoke may be associated with reduced vitamin D3 levels and an impaired ability of human sinonasal epithelial cells to convert the vitamin D3 levels to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, according to data.

“These findings suggest a possible mechanism in which the effect of [cigarette smoke] exposure is greater on those with underlying intrinsic airway diseases when compared with that seen in otherwise healthy subjects,” Jennifer K. Mulligan, PhD, of the departments of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, pediatrics, and microbiology and immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H. Johnson Medical Center, and colleagues wrote.

The researchers examined the effect of cigarette smoke on systemic vitamin D3 (25VD3) levels and its local metabolism in control subjects and patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

“Here we determined that [cigarette smoke] exposure exacerbates local and systemic VD3 deficiencies in patients with [chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps],” the researchers wrote. “These effects were not limited to patients with [chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps] because control subjects and patients with [chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps] who were [cigarette smoke] exposed had reduced 25VD3 levels systemically and locally as well.”

They also observed an intrinsic reduction in the conversion of 25VD3 to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, according to researchers.

Additional studies are warranted to determine the effects of oral supplementation of 25VD3 might have in reducing the cigarette smoke-induced airway inflammation, researchers concluded.

Disclosure: See the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.