Vitamin D and cathelicidin levels and susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection acquisition in household contacts.

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency has been proposed to confer susceptibility to acquiring tuberculosis infection by impairing the innate immune response.

Methods: In an exploratory study, we examined whether the levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in serum, and cathelicidin - an antimicrobial peptide-induced under calcitriol - in the nasal fluid, would associate with the risk of acquiring tuberculosis infection.

Results: Within a prospective cohort of 231 tuberculosis household contacts tested with repeated interferon-gamma release assays, we serially analyzed all the uninfected contacts acquiring tuberculosis infection at follow-up ("converters", n=18), and an age and sex-matched control group of contacts not acquiring tuberculosis infection ("non-converters", n=36). The median levels of serum 25(OH)D did not differ between convertors and non-converters at baseline (14.9 vs. 13.2 ng/ml, p=0.41), nor at follow-up (19.0 vs 18.6ng/ml, p=0.83). Similarly, cathelicidin levels did not differ between both groups.

Conclusion: These data argue against a major role for hypovitaminosis D in tuberculosis infection susceptibility.