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Publication — IRIC

Direct and indirect induction by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 of the NOD2/CARD15-defensin beta2 innate immune pathway defective in Crohn disease.

Vitamin D signaling through its nuclear vitamin D receptor has emerged as a key regulator of innate immunity in humans. Here we show that hormonal vitamin D, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3), robustly stimulates expression of pattern recognition receptor NOD2/CARD15/IBD1 gene and protein in primary human monocytic and epithelial cells. The vitamin D receptor signals through distal enhancers in the NOD2 gene, whose function was validated by chromatin immunoprecipitation and chromatin conformation capture assays. A key downstream signaling consequence of NOD2 activation by agonist muramyl dipeptide is stimulation of NF-kappaB transcription factor function, which induces expression of the gene encoding antimicrobial peptide defensin beta2 (DEFB2/HBD2). Pretreatment with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) synergistically induced NF-kappaB function and expression of genes encoding DEFB2/HBD2 and antimicrobial peptide cathelicidin in the presence of muramyl dipeptide. Importantly, this synergistic response was also seen in macrophages from a donor wild type for NOD2 but was absent in macrophages from patients with Crohn disease homozygous for non-functional NOD2 variants. These studies provide strong molecular links between vitamin D deficiency and the genetics of Crohn disease, a chronic incurable inflammatory bowel condition, as Crohn’s pathogenesis is associated with attenuated NOD2 or DEFB2/HBD2 function.

Publication date
January 22, 2010
Principal Investigators
Wang TT, Dabbas B, Laperriere D, Bitton AJ, Soualhine H, Tavera-Mendoza LE, Dionne S, Servant MJ, Bitton A, Seidman EG, Mader S, Behr MA, White JH
PubMed reference
J. Biol. Chem. 2010;285(4):2227-31
PubMed ID
19948723
Affiliation
Department of Physiology, Montreal General Hospital, Canada.